Innocence Lamented, Innocence Lost
by dantesdarkqueen
Summary: His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today... Fixed!
1. Two Sides, Same Coin

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Two Sides, Same Coin

_I can see them, see them as clearly now as I could then, all those years ago. Dead or alive, time does not pass for one such as I. Such pain, such unbearable agony, I felt upon seeing this. I, the guardian of their Human World, who was unable to protect them. _

_My name is known to you. Think upon that, and do not ask me that again. _

_I shall share with you now…the memories…_

_The events that would forge _him_ into a son of which I could be forever proud…_

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Dante! Vergil! Stay where I can see you!"

Eva waited patiently until two silver-haired boys, each a mirror-image of the other, raced back into view. They were laughing, playing tag with each other, taking full advantage of the freedom offered by the park. So full of energy were they these days, Eva could barely keep up with them anymore.

She returned to her book, a new title by her favorite author. The twins continued chasing after each other a while longer, ducking around trees and through the bars of the jungle gym, until Dante sprang at his brother, tackling him to the ground. They wrestled, each trying to gain the upper hand with a flurry of kicks, tugging, and boy's punches, rolling along on the grass until at last Vergil pinned his younger twin.

"Say it!" he demanded. "Say I'm the best!"

"Never!"

"Say it!"

"No!" Dante heaved his body to the side, taking his brother with him for the ride. Gaining the upper hand once more, he scrambled atop his twin, making sure to brace himself so Vergil couldn't roll him to the side, as he had a moment ago. "Now _you_ say it! Admit I'm better then you!"

"No!" Vergil struggled, but both brothers new that this time Dante had persevered. But neither would ever surrender to the other, never admit defeat.

Never surrender.

Vergil suddenly relaxed, and Dante inadvertently loosened his grip a little. He stared down at his brother with a gloating, mocking smile. "Giving up?"

"No way." With a sudden snap of his lithe young body, Vergil threw Dante off of him. He stood up, brushing off the blades of grass he'd collected. "You didn't seriously think I'd make it that easy, did you?"

His brother got up, then barreled into him, pulling no punches this time. Vergil retaliated, and soon the boys were fighting in earnest, hitting and kicking and calling each other every name they could think of.

"Bug-brain!"

"Snot-head!"

"Potty-mouth!"

"Scumbag!"

"Boys!" Their mother was suddenly there, physically pulling her sons apart. "Stop this right now! Stop!"

"He started it!" Vergil tried to lunge at his brother, but Eva had too firm a grip on his collar for him to break it.

"Tattle-tale." Dante made a rude face at his twin.

"Now that's enough!" She looked at them sternly. "Can't you be nice and not fight with each other? Or do I have to take you both home right now?"

They hung their heads. Dante kicked at a stone off to the side. "We can be good, Mom."

"Yeah. We won't fight anymore."

Eva had to smile. Although she sometimes felt like she'd had it up to _here_ with them, she loved her sons more than anything else in the world. She would do anything for them.

She just wished they wouldn't fight so much.

She knelt before them, so she could look them in the eyes, and took their hands. For a moment, she studied each pair intently, examining every inch as if searching for something. "Look at your hands," she finally said. "Do you see what I see?"

The boys examined their hands carefully, peering closely at their own and each others' with the same intensity their mother had. "The fingerprints are the same."

"Exactly." Eva laid her hands against their cheeks, making them look at her. "You are twin brothers, identical halves of one whole. Do you know how wrong it is for the halves to fight against each other? Do you know how much it hurts me to see that my sons cannot seem to help fighting with each other, as if they hated each other?" She looked into each pair of blue eyes, trying to make them understand. "I'm asking you now, as your mother. Please, don't fight anymore today. I hate it when the two of you fight like this. Can you do that for me?"

The boys exchanged glances, then simultaneously threw their arms around their mother's neck in a reassuring hug. They had upset their mother, and now they wanted to apologize in the best manner they could. "We'll be good, Mom," Vergil said.

"We won't make you sad. No more fighting today." Dante tightened his arms a little more, to prove that he was sincere.

Eva smiled, and hugged them back. "Thank you, my sons. It means so much to me, that you do not fight."

They stayed that way a little longer, until a most unwelcome voice intruded upon their private moment.

"Well, lookit at the happy little family, Mitch. And them two always braggin' at how tough they are." There was a spitting sound behind them, and a harsh laugh. "Softies, they are. Though I guess I can see how, when they ain' got a daddy anyways. Their momma couldn' hold onto a man if she wanted to!"

"Look like mama's boys to me, Ricky." This voice was higher pitched, more whiney than the first, but equally unwelcome.

"Mama's boys! Mama's boys! Mama's boys!" they chanted mockingly.

Two heads jerked up, and Vergil and Dante glared at the other two boys with daggers in their eyes. Eva let them go and went back to the bench, where she'd left her book. She didn't like it when her sons fought, but it was hard not to be flattered when they were defending her honor.

Besides, she had had to apologize to their victims' parents and the school principals before. If nothing else, she knew that they could take care of themselves in matters like this.

Vergil squared off with Ricky, and Dante with Mitch. If there was anyone in this world the twins truly loathed, it was these two. Ricky and his crony, his brother Mitch, had been the bane of their existence ever since they had started school six years ago.

"You dare to make fun of our mom?" Vergil gave a meaningful look to the bullies' mother, who sat on another park bench, smoking a cigarette and scratching at the curlers in her greasy brown hair. He sniffed derisively. "At least our mother isn't puffing like a smoke stack."

"And she actually takes a shower. No air fresheners or hair curlers needed," Dante added.

"Hey, you can't make fun of our momma like that!" Ricky took a swing at his silver-haired adversary, but Vergil sidestepped the clumsy punch, and the bigger boy overbalanced. Vergil helped him accomplish a total faceplant by kicking his feet out from under him, and Ricky went sprawling.

Mitch had likewise thrown a ham-fisted punch, but Dante had ducked it. The force of his swing had spun the weasel, and when he came back around, Dante planted a foot hard in his groin. Mitch fell heavily to the ground, curled up as tight as he would go, biting back tears. Dante dusted off his hands with his customary smirk. "Too easy."

But Ricky wasn't finished yet. He got to his feet, and grabbed a thick stick from the ground. With a wild scream, he charged Vergil. The stick was mostly blocked or missed completely, but it did score a few hits, and one resounding crack against the younger boy's jaw knocked him to the grass, dazed.

Ricky had raised the stick for an overhead hit, one Vergil didn't think he could find the strength to block, when the bully staggered as someone jumped on his back. Ricky did his best to shake him off, but Dante clung like a stubborn leech. He grabbed for the stick, and Ricky responded by running backwards and slamming him into a tree.

"Ullfff!" The hit knocked the air out of him, but Dante didn't let go. Two more slams, however, were enough to get him off. Defenseless, Dante could only watch as Ricky picked him up by the throat and held him against the tree's rough bark. He gasped for breath, and hoped that the bully would let him go soon.

But one look into Ricky's brown eyes dismissed that notion. He had no idea of stopping this time. His grip tightened, and dark spots began obscuring Dante's vision.

Suddenly, the pressure was gone, and he dropped heavily to the tree's roots. As the darkness cleared and he coughed hard, gulping down welcome mouthfuls of air, he saw Ricky being violently shaken at the end of a vast, meaty arm.

There were rumors that Ricky and Mitch's mother had once been an Olympic-class weight-lifter and a champion at the hammer-throw. The ease with which she held and shook her huge son nearly a foot off the ground seemed to verify that claim beyond any doubt. She was a big woman, but there was definite muscle hidden beneath the fat.

"I'll tan your hide, I will! I'll beat you so you can't sit down 'till next month! First you kill the dog, and now you've moved on to your schoolmates? I'll learn you good this time, Ricky! See if I don't!" she ranted in a voice made deep and rough by years of chain-smoking. "And Mitch, you don't get off so easily either! I'll beat you black and blue!"

"Dante!" Eva was there an instant later, frantically examining him for injury.

"I'm fine, Mom." He didn't say anything more. It hurt too much to talk.

"Sorry 'bout that, Eva. Your other boy told me what my boys were doin' over here." She shook Ricky again, so hard his teeth clacked together. "You got good boys. I can't leave mine alone for a second without them getting in trouble!"

"Thank you, Regina. I'm just glad Dante is all right." Eva gently touched the raw-looking fingermarks on his throat. At least the injuries wouldn't last long. Due to their father's blood, her sons could heal almost any injury much faster than any of their peers. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't help the process a little by getting his mind off it. "Come on, Dante. Vergil!" He came running to her call. "Let's go. I think we need some ice cream for that throat. Besides, we still have to go grocery shopping."

"I am sorry, Eva." Regina had but Ricky down, but she kept an unbreakable grip on him. "My boys are turnin' out to be just like their daddy. Good-for-nothing louts and bullies, always picking on critters smaller than them."

"It's all right, Regina. Maybe after the beating you give them, they won't bother my sons anymore."

"You can bet your boots they won't!" Regina jerked Ricky over to where Mitch lay, pulled him off the grass. "Come on, both of you. You two have an appointment with the switch!"

Dante and Vergil couldn't help but smile as their opponents kicked and screamed and cried, dragged on by their mother's relentless grip.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _Welcome to my very first fan-fic, now fixed and resubmitted for your viewing approval! I've tried to tie this fic in with a lot of things speculated about from the manga and novels and games, and this is what I came up with. Sorry if this Eva doesn't really mesh with the Eva of others, but hey, only Dante and Vergil can tell us what their mother was like. _

Vergil: _You would have liked her. I can tell you that much. _

Dante: _For a first-timer, Queen actually didn't do so badly. Of course, she had us to help her work out some details… _

Vergil: _But not everything will tie in with the novels. The two villains, for example, are most definitely not in the games and books. You'll see what we mean in the next chapter._

Dante (shudders): _I swear, that woman gives me the creeps…_

Queen: _Then put on a coat and don't read my fics over my shoulder. Anyway, please leave a review in the appropriate place. Gotta go now!_

(transmission ended)


	2. The Possessed

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

The Possessed

Nalasmil watched the family go. The tall, willowy blonde woman certainly matched the descriptions of Sparda's woman. If she wasn't cause for immediate suspicion, however, the twin boys walking at her sides were. The silver caps of hair alone marked them as suspect.

_Raksh, _she thought, communicating with the demon that shared her mortal shell. _Can you see them? _

_Yes,_ a deep, gravely baritone replied from somewhere deep within her.

_Show me._

A clear film seemed to cover her eyes, and suddenly she could see through the demon's eyes. All the buildings and plants, the cars and streetlights, seemed somehow twisted and perverted, more organic and less mechanic. Demonic versions of the human originals. The sky was as red as blood, and the atmosphere seemed somehow heavier, more difficult to take into her lungs. Through the power of the demon inside her, the transition didn't harm her, where it would have caused a normal human to at least cry out and give away her presence.

When Nalasmil turned her gaze to the little family, she saw that a frightening change had taken place. The human woman had remained the same, but her sons had disappeared. In their places were two small demons, the wings and horns of adults only just beginning to grow from their blackened forms. Their claws clicked on the pavement as they moved away, and their eyes glowed with the fires that raged inside them. Most telling of all, however, was the color of the horns emerging from their skulls. Black horns, which only one other demon in the long history of Hell had possessed.

These two were, beyond all doubt, the sons of Sparda.

"Yes…." she hissed.

The demon on the right suddenly turned to look at her, and Raksh withdrew back into her as if he were afraid. She, likewise, was stricken with a flash of panic. There was just something about him that inspired fear in both her and the demon, something inexplicable, yet almost tangible. But what?

The boy glanced at her for a heartbeat longer, then turned away.

Had he sensed her? She shook that disquieting thought away. They were only half-demons; surely they couldn't sense Raksh's presence! That was impossible!

As per her master's wishes, she followed the family.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Vergil? What is it?"

"Nothing, Mom. I thought I heard something, but I was wrong." He caught his mother's hand, hurried along to keep up with her long strides. "What are we getting?"

"The usual things. But first we are going to get some ice-cream for Dante's throat."

"Yeah, 'cause I really need it." Dante rubbed at his throat and pretended to wince, even though the marks had almost disappeared already.

"Liar. You just want a cone." Vergil leaned around his mother to stick his tongue out at his brother.

"No, it really hurts!"

"Boys," Eva said in a warning tone. They immediately went quiet, and she hit the crosswalk button. "We'll get cones, then we'll go shopping, but there will be no more fighting today. Right?"

"Right, Mom." Dante jumped off the curb just as the light turned blue.

She smiled at her younger son, and something caught her eye.

A woman was following them.

She seemed inconspicuous, despite her pale, pale skin and hair and general unhealthy look, but something about her just put Eva's 'mommy senses' on high alert. This woman meant harm to her sons. To her as well, of course, but her safety mattered little when her sons were in danger.

Crossing the street, she took them into the ice cream parlor. As usual, the boys couldn't agree on what flavors to get, but finally settled down and chose. Vergil asked for a chocolate cone, Dante vanilla. Eva got a banana cone for herself, and noted with no small amount of suspicion that the woman was still lounging around outside when they left the store. She took up following them shortly after they headed in the direction of the supermarket.

"Let's see. What do we need from the store?" Eva asked, hoping not to tip off her sons that someone dangerous was near. What could this woman want with them? Was it connected to Sparda?

"Milk. Bread. Cheese. The usual." Vergil took a bite of his cone, having already licked it down to the sugary rim. He always knew what essentials they were low on.

"Pizza. Cookies. Chips." Dante was the one with the junk-food requests. As usual.

Eva finished her cone and threw the paper into the next available trash can. "We also need some vegetables." She waited for their predictable reaction.

"Vegetables? Yecchh!" Both of them pretended to be ill at the thought of food that was actually good for them. Fans of rabbit food, they were not.

"And some cake mix."

That lightened their faces. Their birthday was tomorrow, and Eva always let them lick the bowl and beaters when she made their cakes.

"C'mon, Mom! Let's hurry up!" They quickly finished their cones, and began pulling her along behind them, eager to get to the store. Eva laughed and let them drag her, thankful that they were unaware of the pale woman trailing them and that they were in a good mood. Of the two, Dante had been closer to her, and not really that fond of his father. He could usually be counted on to be playful and sunny, much as she had been as a child. That hadn't changed as he had gotten older, and she was grateful. Vergil, on the other hand….

Vergil's good days were usually few and far between these days. He was a lot more like their father, whom he had virtually idolized. Subdued, enigmatic, almost cold. On a bad day, he could seem as if he didn't care about anything besides himself. Sparda had been like that a lot, but not always. But when he wanted to, he could be as playful as his twin.

She was glad that today was one of those days.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

When they entered the supermarket, Eva glanced back at the woman while Dante went to get a cart. The woman hadn't entered the store with them, but Eva still felt that her instincts concerning the woman were correct. After all, she was still standing there outside the doors. Waiting.

"Mom?" What's wrong?" Vergil asked, seeing the concern on her face.

"Nothing."

Dante pushed the cart over to her, and they continued on their way through the aisles. Several times, she caught Dante sneaking things into the cart. A few times, as always, she pretended not to see him. If the item was too expensive, she could put it back on a shelf later, when he wasn't looking.

She also let the twins choose a bag of potato chips (Doritos, this time), and a package of cookies (chocolate chip). They went through this little ritual every time they went grocery shopping. The chips were a present because they stayed quiet and didn't beg, and the cookies they received if they didn't fight over anything on the way to, or in, the store, and helped her carry the groceries home from the supermarket.

"Vergil, would you go get me a jug of skim milk, please?" she asked, reaching for a box of cereal.

"Okay, Mom." He gave his brother a superior look as he went up the aisle to the dairy products. Dante shook a fist at him until Eva grabbed it.

"I wish you wouldn't do that, Dante."

"But he…." he started to protest, and she pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Listen to me. You are twins." She got down one on knee and touched a finger to his brow. "You've told me you and Vergil have a certain special connection. You can sense the other's presence, and sometimes even feel what he feels. Remember how he suffered when you broke your leg? The time you had that fever?"

"Yeah. He couldn't walk on it, and he was just as miserable as I was," Dante recalled.

"And when he had to get that tooth pulled?"

"I felt it too."

"Exactly. Do you understand now what I'm trying to tell you?"

"No."

Eva sighed, then shook her head and smiled ruefully. "You are two halves of the same whole. When all else is gone, so long as you feel that connection, you have each other. That is why twins like you are so lucky. When everyone else is gone, you will have each other." She smoothed the hair away from his eyes, made sure he was listening to her. "That's why it hurts me to watch you fight. The whole is split in two. But as long as you are at peace, then you will never be alone." She stood back up. "Do you see now?"

He nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Good." She started to push the cart again, but his next question stopped her.

"But what about you? Aren't you going to be with us, Mom?"

The question was not so unexpected, but it still caught her off-guard. Eva was in her mid-thirties, having given birth to her sons at a fairly young age. Would she be there for them? Of course, but how much longer? She looked down at him, walking beside her with one hand on the smooth silver of the cart. "You know that I will be there. Even if you can't see me. In times like that, where will I be, Dante?"

"Here." He pointed to his heart.

"That's right. I'll always be with you until we are reunited, and Vergil will be too. You'll be with him, and I as well."

"I understand." He put his arms around her waist. "I won't forget you, Mom. Ever."

"That's my boy." She hugged him back.

"Here's the milk, Mom." Vergil's voice intruded upon the scene, and Eva let go of Dante with a fair amount of guilt. Vergil was very sensitive to things which he believed indicated that his mother favored Dante over him. Already she saw that he was sullen, and his voice had been flat, emotionless.

"Vergil…." she began, reaching out to him.

He shrugged her hands off. "What else do we need?"

His rejection stung, but there wasn't much she could do to apologize. He wouldn't accept it. "There is nothing else. Let's go."

The twins didn't say anything while they checked out and paid for the groceries. When the food was bagged, they each grabbed a bag of groceries without prompting.

Then Eva noticed that the woman was still lounging around outside.

"Wait. Stop!" she commanded her sons. They looked at her in confusion. "Come here, and wait."

"Mom?" Dante looked at her.

"Mom, what's going on?" Vergil touched her arm, the first time he'd touched her since he'd come back with the milk. "What's wrong?"

She knew her sons' moods. They were scared as well as confused. "We are going to leave through a different set of doors. Follow me, and don't touch anything."

Eva had worked here, at this supermarket, while pregnant with the twins, too stubborn to live off Sparda's accumulated riches. She knew there was another exit, only used by employees. She and her sons did get a few strange looks from teenage cashiers and stock-boys on their smoke-breaks, but no one stopped them. A few alleys over, and they were far enough away from the supermarket to get back on the main street.

The boys never questioned her, and soon they were back in their two-story home, just outside the city in the suburbs. Eva owned a car, but most of the buildings and places they would go to were in walking distance. For this, right now, she was grateful. They would surely have been seen if she had taken the car today.

After they carried in the groceries, Dante and Vergil ran off to play or read or whatever they wanted to do. Eva put away the groceries, and began to make dinner. Pizza would be made tomorrow night, so burgers and fries would be the main menu tonight, with cookies and the last of the ice-cream for dessert. And after dinner, she'd make their cake.

If she could find the time. It was hard to accomplish what she'd set out to do if she had to keep breaking up fights.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _Poor Eva! She never truly gets a break, just like her sons! _

Dante: _And people wonder where we get it from…_

Queen: _Oh now, don't be like that. What's wrong anyway? You've been mad all day._

Vergil: _I beat him this week. He has to pay for the pizza on Saturday night. _

Dante: _And I have no money._

Vergil: _Spent it all on booze again._

Queen: _I suppose I could give you some money, but you'd have to do whatever I wanted tonight._

Dante (gives webcam an anguished look): _Fine, but what exactly would this consist of?_

Queen: _You know those chains I bought a few weeks back? _

Dante: _Yes…_

Queen: _You, chains, bedposts. Break them and you don't get anything. _

Vergil: _Too much information…_

(transmission ended)


	3. A Comic Moment

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

A Comic Moment

Dante grabbed the foam basketball off the dresser and shot it towards the hoop mounted on the wall without aiming. The ball missed by about a foot.

"It would help if you would aim from time to time." Vergil was lying on his stomach in his bunk, reading something. Dante glanced at the title as he went to retrieve the ball.

"_The Lord of the Flies_? What is that, a book about bugs?"

"No. It's about how these boys get stranded on an island, and all of them have live off the land to survive. Jack just killed a pig, and put its head on a stake. It's pretty cool." He turned a page. "I don't like Jack very much. He reminds me of you."

"Hey!" Dante threw the ball at his brother, and Vergil blocked it with the book. He peeked at him over the pages, his blue eyes seeming all the more mysterious for being so similar to Dante's.

"Don't you ever relax?"

"No way. Not if I'm going to be famous someday."

"So what's your latest scheme? Basketball?"

"Yep. Do you know how much basketball stars make in a single year? With that much cash, I could have booze, babes, and enough dough left over to swim in!" He shot the ball at the hoop again, and this time is sailed through the hoop. "Jackpot!"

"Ever think of _not_ being famous? Of just settling down with someone and raising a family? Besides, you've never had a drink in your life. How do you know you'll even like beer?" The ball had rolled to a stop next to the bunk bed, and Vergil grabbed it. Without even looking, he threw it at the hoop.

It ricocheted right off the backboard into the basket.

"How did you do that? I've been trying to shoot without looking for days now!" Dante picked up the ball and stared at it as if it had betrayed him. Then he looked at his brother, still reading in his bunk. "How?" he repeated.

Vergil shrugged.

Dante let it go at that. He normally would have jumped across the room into his brother's bed, wrestling with him until he told him. But he'd promised his mother that he wouldn't fight with Vergil anymore today. He didn't like to let his mother down.

Instead, he climbed up the back of the bunks to reach his bed on top and somersaulted onto the covers. Dante never used the ladder. He thought it was much cooler to climb up the foot of the bed like a monkey, and besides, it was better for his muscles.

Vergil rolled his eyes as the plywood holding the upper mattress sagged violently before snapping back to a more usual shape. "One of these days, you're going to break the bed and come crashing down on me," he predicted.

"Then let's hope that you aren't in your bunk when it breaks." Dante rummaged inside his pillowcase and pulled out his comic book collection. He had always disdained the typical superhero comic. Superman, the X-Men, and their ilk held no interest for him. Instead, he focused on only two titles:_ Shu-gra, Queen of the Amazons _and _The Dark Knight. _It was the latter which he pulled out now. _Shu-gra_ was a hot, mature comic with enough adult themes he had to beg for it at the drug store, and consequently he didn't have that many issues of it. But his mother had gotten him a subscription for _The Dark Knight_ because it was about his father, Sparda.

He relaxed with the latest issue, in which Sparda slew the Prince of Darkness and sealed away the Demon World forever. The comics took some creative liberties, of course, but for the most part they told the story accurately.

Like this part. In this particular spread, Sparda and a human priestess, Elisia, were working together to try and shut the main path to the Demon World forever.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"_To close the demonic road and seal away the tower, we need to combine the power of my blood with the sacred purity of you own," Sparda explained to the priestess, who stood staring at the room with a kind of horrified fascination. Strangely, she'd never looked at him that way. Certainly his true form was terrifying, but Elisia had only ever treated him like another human being. _

"_Do I have to die, or will I regain my strength and return to my husband and children?" There was a serene peace in her lovely features as she asked the question. She was afraid of this place, but not of what she must do. _

"_I do not know. I hope you will not die." He attempted a smile, one of the human facial expressions she had taught him. On his demonic visage, however, it just looked terrifying._

_Elisia just shook her head, sending her dark hair slithering about her back. "Could you please turn into your human form? I do not fear you, but speaking with a 6'7 demon is a little unnerving."_

"_As you wish." There was flash of purple light, and suddenly a white-haired man with an eye-patch in the expensive garb of a nobleman stood where the demon had been. Elisia had always believed her husband to be the most handsome man in the world, but she had to admit that Sparda would turn any woman's head, including her own. _

"_Is this more to your tastes, Elisia?" he asked, looking down at himself._

"_I believe it is adequate. Now, will the tower really sink into the ground and move somewhere else? Somewhere it will not be disturbed?"_

"_The other side of the world, if what I believe is true. My sword and power will act as part of the seal in the demonic realm, so no demon can unlock the seal from that side. Even if one of them could even touch the hilt, the tower will not rise unless the seals in this world, chained to my enemies trapped in this realm, are dispelled. But this will be the heart of the main seal." He motioned towards the blood-pan in the center of the tower. They were at the apex of the tower, the very top of the structure. While he had come through the main portal to Hell, Elisia had had to climb for hours to reach it. "If the seal is disrupted, the tower will live again, and rise to tower across humanity once more."_

"_I understand." Elisia pulled back the wide sleeve of her priestess robe, exposing the smooth white flesh of her arm. "Shall we begin?"_

_Sparda nodded, and drew his sword. A quick slash across the palm of his hand, and his blood flowed freely. This he allowed to drip into the blood-pan. "Are you ready?"_

_She swallowed hard, and nodded. Sparda cut across her wrist with one lightening-quick maneuver, and she gasped at the pain. Her blood spilt quickly, fueled by the pumping of her fast-beating heart. _

_As the blood mingled in the pan, the tower began to shiver. The red lines that powered the tower, that kept the portal to the Demon World open, turned to purest white. Elisia held tight to Sparda for balance as the floor beneath them began to sink into the stone. Another floor closed the way above their heads, sealing away their view of the collapsing portal. For long minutes they spun in darkness, until at last they came to a stop in the basement, far below the earth's crust. _

_Sparda released Elisia, and walked over to the glowing blood-pan. Stooping over, he lifted out two ruby jewels. "The key…" he muttered, and pocketed them. _

"_Spard…ahhh…" Elisia trembled and collapsed behind him, falling limply to the stone. He was at her side in seconds. _

"_Elisia…no…" he said helplessly. He'd cut too deep into her wrist, and she had neglected to bind the wound. Now the blood flowed weakly, far too slowly. Her blood pooled around her, a life-filled puddle she couldn't draw back into her body._

_Elisia the Priestess was dying._

_Weakly, she lifted a hand to stroke his cheek, a comforting gesture. "Don't….be sad. No….regrets. Thomas and I…. knew….would come….to this…"_

_A tear trickled down his cheek into the corner of his mouth. He was startled when he tasted its salt, for he had never shed tears before. Elisia smiled gently. "You find….woman. Remember….my friend...Devils….never…..cry…." _

_Her head fell back, her eyes closed, and her hand fell away from his face. _

"_Elisia? Elisia!" Sparda threw back his head in a helpless, grieving roar. Elisia, the one human whom he had thought of as what she had called a 'friend,' was dead._

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

_Later, Sparda and the husband of the priestess, Thomas, stood over her grave. They said no words. Speaking would have disturbed the solemnity of their mutual grief. Thomas had already cursed and railed against her death, but even in the midst of his shock and grief he had never blamed Sparda. Not once. _

_He lifted his head from his prayers for her soul just as Sparda completed his silent farewell. Now, if they desired, they could speak. _

"_How are the children taking it?" the white-haired man asked._

"_They understand why she did it. Losing their older brother to the demon raid three years ago made them understand the necessity of her sacrifice." Thomas hugged himself. He had to be strong for his children; no one would offer him comfort in the days to come. "Raising five kids by myself is going to be difficult, but the older ones will help with the younger ones. We'll manage, somehow."_

"_That's good." An awkward silence fell, as if neither man knew quite what to say to the other._

_After a moment, Thomas turned to face the other man. "What about you? What are you going to do?"_

"_I'm not sure. I want to experience a human life in all its joys and sorrows, but I don't know how. Elisia was going to teach me how to be human, but I can't expect you to." Sparda toyed with the sword hanging from his belt. "Any advice?"_

_Thomas chuckled knowingly. "I can give you that, and so can anyone else. Find a woman, friend. There is no better initiation into the joys and sorrows of human life then at the hands of a member of the opposite sex." He chuckled again and shook his head. "You should have seen Elisia and I when first we wed. Fighting as if to kill each other one minute, then loving as if it were the last time the very next! Like wildcats in heat, we were."_

_Sparda smiled. "I'll try, Thomas. Maybe not now, but someday I will search for a woman. A woman who can accept a demon such as myself, and who would be willing to give me children. I do not know where I will find a woman like that, but I shall search."_

_Thomas clapped his shoulder as if they were old friends. "You'll see. You'll find her someday. And you'll have plenty of children. A finer reward is not known to man than that."_

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _Believe it or not, Dante actually does collect comic books. _The Dark Knight_ isn't a real title, but _Shu-gra, Queen of the Amazons_ is his favorite. I think he's got every issue there ever was! _

Vergil: _Queen, you don't want to know what he used those for._

Queen: _I think anybody out there who knows Dante can guess what he used them for when he was a little younger, Vergil…_

Dante (coming into the room): _Hey Queen! Have you seen my…_

(static crackle, transmission lost)


	4. No Presents

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

No Presents

Boys! Dinner!"

Dante shut the comic book carefully and vaulted onto the floor with a resounding _thump_. Vergil waited until he had landed before he ventured out of his bed; he'd been hit by his brother's flying body enough times to know to wait.

They thundered down the stairs and into the kitchen, sliding across the linoleum floor on the dishtowels they left out for this exact purpose into the dining room. At the edge of the carpet they jumped off their towels, and flew into their seats like two good little boys.

Eva had already seated herself, and watched their antics with amusement. They both started to reach for a hamburger and bun when she stopped them. "Boys, not until we say grace."

"Do we have to?" Vergil moaned. "I hate saying grace."

Both his brother and his mother stared at him. "Vergil we always say grace!"

"When did you reach this conclusion?" Eva asked, to forestall another argument.

"We're the sons of a demon. Doesn't that automatically mean that we're doomed to go to Hell?" Vergil asked. "God wouldn't want us because we're of the bloodline of his worst enemies."

Dante looked at his mother, almost pleading with her to prove his twin wrong. Eva reached out to take Vergil's hands. "Nothing is automatic, Vergil. Yes, you are the sons of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, but that doesn't mean you are going to go to Hell. If you say your prayers and say grace, you won't be going anywhere other than Heaven." She squeezed his hands, and folded her own. "Now then. Let's say grace so we can eat. I'll say it this time.

"We praise you, Lord, for providing us with the meal before us. In Your Holy Name, we now partake of thy nutritious bounty."

"Amen," they all said in unison.

"Now, let's eat!" Dante and Vergil each grabbed two burgers and scooped out as many fries as they could fit on their plates. Vergil layered lettuce and tomato and mustard on his burgers while his brother loaded the buns with cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, and one tomato slice each. Eva merely placed a slice of cheese on her burger while they smeared on the condiments.

She waited until they had settled down and began to eat before she began the conversation. Some nights she allowed the twins to watch TV. while eating dinner, but usually they sat around the table and talked. "So, tomorrow is your twelfth birthday."

They both looked at her. She had their full attention.

"What do you want to do to celebrate?"

"Video arcade." Dante bit into his burger.

"Movie. Or a nice dinner." Vergil swirled a fry in ketchup and popped it into his mouth.

"I see." She sipped her water. "Could I trust you boys to stay together at the arcade if I leave you there for a few hours while I ran some errands? Would you stay together and not fight?"

"We'll stay together, but we can't promise that we won't fight," they answered in unison.

Well, at least they were honest. Eva decided to tease them a little. "So, I suppose you will be wanting presents with your breakfast."

"Jeez, Mom, do you even have to ask?" Dante moaned. He finished his first burger and grabbed the second. Both of them had stomachs like bottomless pits.

"How do you know I even got you birthday presents? Maybe I didn't get you anything this year." She fought to hide her smile.

They stared at her with open mouths, utterly shocked. As if they had choreographed the maneuver, they both got up from their chairs and leapt onto their mother, bearing her and her chair to the ground. They tickled her mercilessly while shouting "Say you got us presents! Say it!" over and over.

Laughing so hard that tears streamed from her eyes, Eva gasped for air to speak. Seeing this, her sons stopped and waited expectantly for her reassurances. "I…." she giggled. "I cannot….seem to recall….No, I didn't buy you any presents!"

Dante and Vergil shrieked, and began their ticklish assault once more. Eva suffered their attentions a short while longer, then pulled them down beside her. Happy now, they snuggled against their mother, certain that she had only been joking. She hugged them to her, ruffled their thick white hair and rubbed their backs.

"Oh, my sons. What would I ever do without you?" she wondered aloud.

Dante lifted his head. "Carry the groceries home by yourself."

Vergil didn't reply. He merely listened to his mother's heartbeat, the easy rhythm of her breathing, and felt that only his father's presence could make this moment better.

But Sparda's seat at the other end of the table remained empty, as always. He hadn't been home for two years now.

Eva ruffled Dante's hair again. "Yes, I suppose I would. I think I'll keep you both around a little longer. After all, I can't carry all the groceries by myself. And I know I can't eat all these hamburgers by myself." She kissed their heads, then let them go. "Okay, get off me. Dinner's getting cold. As for the presents, you'll find out tomorrow."

The boys went back to their seats, and resumed eating. Eva righted her chair, and watched them eat for a while. How she loved her sons. She knew she wouldn't have them forever, but she hoped to see them grow and find wives, to see her grandchildren.

But that was a long way in the future. For now, she still had them to herself.

With that thought in mind, she got up to go get the cookies and ice cream.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _Sorry the last transmission got cut off, folks. There was a black-out due to yet another demonic attack on our house. Didn't take too long to solve the problem, thank God. _

Vergil: _Just a lousy Oranguerra. Not a big problem. _

Dante: _So says the guy who got launched straight into the air when it kicked him…_

Vergil: _Just winded me, that's all._

Queen: _That's not what I saw…_

Vergil: _Queen…_

Queen: _Can we argue about this later? I still have to get dinner on the stove._

Dante: _Just get us some grub, and I'll get some ice for him. And end the transmission already._

Queen: _Already done._

(transmission ended)


	5. Of Swords and Memories

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Of Swords and Memories

_You let them get away!_

Nalasmil cringed at the volume of the demon's voice in her head. She whimpered softly, and put her hands over her ears, trying to escape that which was always with her.

_You stupid, ignorant excuse for a bitch! Because of your stupidity, we may have lost the sons of Sparda!_

"Please, Master…." she whispered. "I can't…."

_You had better hope that you will find them again. If they are forever lost to us, you will suffer the most painful torments known to the demons for all of eternity!_

"I will find them again, Master! I won't fail you again!" she cried, hoping to get him to quiet. Her head felt as if it were about to explode! "When next I find them, they will not escape your master's wrath…"

_Very good, slave. But you must be punished anyway…._

She screamed as the demon's power spilled into her.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Their stomachs full, Vergil and Dante decided to peek into their father's study. They crept up the stairs to a door that hadn't been opened in two years, a room their mother had forbidden them to enter. At Vergil's touch, the door swung open, revealing a room dominated by an enormous fireplace, almost an exact copy of the study Sparda had used in their old house. This room their mother had designated as his, just in case he ever returned to them. A pair of winged leather chairs sat before its silent maw, a small table between them. The room was lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, and on the right of the room was a huge curved marble desk, another leather chair nestled into the curve. Also in evidence were a pair of display cases, each holding two swords. It was these that caught the twins' eyes now.

Dante wandered over to the case holding a pair of longswords. One fascinated him, almost called to him. It was a huge sword with a double-edged blade that got wider as it got longer before tapering sharply to a point. The hilt was a horned skull atop a sharply-defined ribcage and spine with the grip punching out from between the horns. Sparda had shown him this blade several times in the past. "This is Rebellion, Dante," he would say. "I've carried this blade for many long years. It is meant for your hands, my son. When you are old enough to wield it, to handle its power, you will know."

Dante knew he wasn't exactly ready yet, but he was getting there. The sword's call got stronger every time he passed this door. Very soon, he would be able to use it.

A small noise from across the room made him tear his gaze away and look to his brother. Vergil stood at the other case, which held Eastern blades, a Chinese sword and a Japanese katana. Dante figured his brother was looking at Yamato, the katana their father had primarily used for as long as they could remember. It didn't matter to him. Neither Yamato nor the other blades called to him as Rebellion did.

"Dante! Vergil!" The boys turned guiltily to the door just as Eva appeared in the light from the hallway. "How many times have I told you to stay out of this room?" she asked.

"Mom, we just…." Vergil began, but their mother cut him off.

"Yes, I know. The swords called to you, and you just had to see them. Am I right?" They nodded, hanging their heads in something similar to shame. "You are of your father's blood, to be certain. But I never let him use the swords in the house, and neither will you two. Come on. It's time for your baths."

Heads still hanging low, the boys obeyed without question. Eva shut the door behind them, but not before she looked at the fireplace. One of the things she had made absolutely sure was in the exact place it had been in their old house had been the family portrait they had all gotten when the twins were eight. She and Sparda stood behind their sons, she and they smiling happily, but Sparda merely looking as arrogantly handsome as he always had. As if this was somehow beneath him, but he would do it anyway.

God, how she missed him at times.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

While Vergil took his shower, Dante watched "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit" with his mother. This particular episode involved a man, his wife, and their adopted daughter being killed by members of an occult group as a sacrifice to the Devil. It was fascinating to watch, but also deeply unsettling to Dante, and when he heard Vergil padding across the ceiling to their room from the bathroom he shot up the stairs.

Vergil was down a few minutes later, and he found the episode extremely interesting. The idea that someone had been killed for another's religion, given as a sacrifice to the Prince of Darkness, didn't scare him at all.

When the episode was over, Eva switched the channel over to "Unsolved Mysteries." Dante joined them on the couch just as it began to storm outside. As the storm increased in fury, he kept scooting closer to his mother, eventually resting his head in her lap while she stroked his hair, calming him. Vergil stayed on his side of the couch, disdaining physical contact with his mother until one very loud crack of lightening, and its accompanying roll of thunder, sent him close to her side. It wasn't that they feared storms, because they certainly didn't. They just sometimes wanted to make their mother feel as if they needed her, that's all.

At least, that's what they told themselves.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Once the episode was over, Eva took them to their bed, and went to her own. The boys climbed into their bunks and lay awake, listening to the storm raging outside. Vergil tried to get deeper into_ Lord of the Flies_, but with the atmospheric fireworks outside the window, it just couldn't hold his attention.

"Vergil?" came Dante's voice from the top bunk.

"Yeah?"

"Where do you think Father is?"

Vergil had to think about that one for a moment. He had been the last member of the family to see Sparda. He had gotten up in the middle of the night to sneak a snack from the kitchen, and just as he'd descended the stairs into the living room his father had been opening the door to leave, one of his massive longswords in hand. The episode still remained fresh in his mind, despite having occurred two years ago….

_"Dad? Where are you going?" he asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily._

_Sparda set down his bag and his sword, then went to his elder son. He knelt before him. "I have to go away, Vergil." _

_"Why?"_

_His father hesitated. "People are after me, and because they are after me they are also after you, your mother, and your brother. I don't want them to find you, so I must go. Do you understand?"_

_Sparda's seriousness had fully brought Vergil out of his sleepy haze. He nodded slowly in understanding. "I think so. Who's after us, Dad?" he asked, his eyes searching his father's._

_Sparda shook his head. "I cannot say. All I can do is try to draw them away, so they will not find you." He reached out and traced a finger along the side of Vergil's face, a gesture he had learned from Eva. "Grow strong and powerful, my son. I'll give you as much time as I am able, but I cannot hold them off forever."_

_Vergil nodded again, then impulsively threw himself into his father's arms in a heartfelt embrace of farewell. Sparda, in a rare display of true emotion, returned the hug, squeezing his son tightly. He knew that he would likely never see him, or his mother and twin, ever again. _

_After a moment, he let him go and stood back up. _

_"Good-bye, Vergil. Tell your mother. She will know what to do."_

_"I will, Father. Good-bye." _

_With that, Sparda swept through the door and into the night, leaving Vergil staring after him, somehow more mature than he had been when he had come down the stairs just minutes before. _

"Vergil?" His brother's question shook him out of the memories, forcing his mind back to the present.

"I don't know. Somewhere far away, I'd guess."

Dante hung his head over the side of the bed to look at his twin. "Do you think he's ever coming back?"

Vergil shrugged, and a flash of lightening cracked across the window, making him look somehow far more sinister than Dante had ever seen him. "I don't know."

The head disappeared back into the upper bunk. "I hope we see him again. I didn't think I'd ever miss him, but I do."

Vergil turned onto his side, away from the storm and his brother's view, should he hang back over the side again. "Me too."

His whisper went unheard by Dante, overpowered by the thunderous display of the storm outside.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

If her sons missed their father, Eva missed him even more. She sat in her enormous, lonely bed and watched his side of the mattress, wishing he was there with her. Unlike her sons, she really didn't like storms. When she was a girl, she had often hid from them, either under the bed or in her closet. Sparda wasn't there to take her mind off the atmospheric fury outside her window, so she tried to distract herself with thoughts of him.

Maybe she had loved him. Maybe she hadn't. Surely there was some attraction, even affection, between them, enough to have started a family and a life together. But was there love? Eva had pondered that question many times, and she still had no conclusion.

The biggest problem, she mused, was that he had been largely incapable of true emotion. Yes, he had enjoyed sex and he had cared about her and the twins, but for the most part there was never any true emotional display from him. He had been as a living statue, cold and unfeeling, yet utterly perfect in face and form. Unconsciously arrogant, because he knew he was better than those around him. He had been maddening, intolerable, so often. But at other times he had reminded her of an overgrown child, reveling in the experiences of his humanity. Those few moments had made up for all the cold, lonely times with him. Eva had loved him when he truly allowed himself to live, rather than merely exist.

"I wish you could see your sons now," she whispered to the empty space beside her. "Vergil is so much like you, and Dante more like me when I was younger. They look more like you with each passing day. I think they will soon take up the swords you left them, although I have no idea what they will do with them.

"They miss you, Sparda, as do I. None of us really expect to see you again, but we still miss you."

She rolled closer to his pillow, settling herself more towards the middle of the bed than before. She had washed the sheets, but she had never washed the pillow since his departure. Strong as she was, Eva still couldn't help feeling that he would be less real to her if she could no longer smell him on the pillow.

"Where did you go, Sparda?" she whispered. "I moved away from our home, just as you told me to. I know you could find us if you wanted to. Where are you?

"Where?"

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Vergil: _Since Queen and Dante are busy in their room at the moment, I believe that I shall be doing the honors of posting this chapter upon the website. Admittedly, I do not like how my mother seems to be a little dependant upon my father here, and I truly hate the fact that Queen put this memory of mine in here, I gave her my word I wouldn't change anything she has done to her fics. Thus, I will do nothing._

(doorknob rattles, followed by a kicking sound)

Vergil: _I believe they have discovered my revenge for Dante's little prank this morning. _

Dante(voice muffled despite shouting): _Vergil! What the hell did you do to the door?!_

Queen: _I think I see furniture under the door, Dante._

(Vergil moves so readers have a clear view of the hallway. Every single piece of heavy furniture in the house has been piled against the bedroom door, effectively trapping the room's occupants)

Vergil: _Hope you enjoy each other's company. You'll be in there a looonnngggg time…_

Queen: _Vergil! Don't you dare leave us here! _

Vergil: _What are you going to do? Have 'extremely loud, all-night sex' like you did when I locked you in the bathroom that one time? Sorry, that's what I have knock-out pills for. _

(window smashes in. Dante climbs in through the broken glass, unmindful of the cuts now crossing his chest and arms)

Dante(absolutely nonchalant): _Next time, bro, remember to board up the windows. Might wanna make yourself scarce while I get Queen out of there. She's hopping mad._

(transmission cut off)


	6. A Nice Surprise

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

A Nice Surprise

Dante lay tired and sleepless for a long time before finally drifting off. His dreams were visions of his father this night. Strange, because he never dreamed of Sparda. Ever.

Dante had both loved and hated his father. It was his mother whom he adored. But this night he had a dream of learning sword-craft from his father. At the end of the dream, he managed to disarm his father, then was swept into Sparda's arms for a hug.

"Dante? Hey, Dante!"

Vergil's voice broke him out of the dream. He raised his head out of the pillow and waved his arm over the side of the mattress to let his brother know he'd heard him. "Yeah?"

"It's morning. We're twelve, now."

"Oh, yeah. Awesome." He dropped his face back into the pillow, still tired.

There was a sudden jolt as Vergil kicked the bottom of the upper bunk.

More awake, and also a little irritated, Dante raised himself up enough to hang over the side of the bunk and look at his twin. "What?"

"I thought you said you were going to wake up Mom this morning."

"In a little bit. I'm still tired." He yawned, for emphasis.

"She's going to get up before you, brother."

"All right, all right. I'll get her up. You coming?" Dante asked, beginning to climb out of bed and down the back of the bunk.

Vergil hesitated. "No, I don't think so. She might decide to keep our presents if we piss her off too much." Dante heard him squirming around in his bunk. "I think I'll stay here until she gets up."

"So you actually get your present if she holds mine back for waking her up. You need to start doing your own dirty work, Vergil." Dante tugged on a pair of boxers and ran a hand through his unruly hair. He and Vergil both had a habit of sleeping naked in the spring and summer, but their mother insisted that they at least put on some briefs or boxers before waking her up in the morning. Dante found the rule vaguely annoying, but enjoyed his early-morning snuggles with his mother too much to disobey.

He left the room and crept down the long hallway to the master bedroom, three doors away. This house was an older one, and Dante had to take care to avoid the noisier floorboards, lest they creak and give him away. At last, he reached the door and gently turned the silver knob, cracking the door enough to stick his head in.

Eva lay on her stomach with her head resting on one hand on the pillow, still asleep. Dante thought she looked like a sleeping angel. He slipped inside, and hesitated. It seemed a shame to disturb her….

And yet….

He took a running start, and leapt onto the bed. As usual, he stayed atop the covers and snuggled close to his mother, singing that it was time for her to get up.

Eva lifted her head from the pillow and groaned softly when she saw him. She had found sleep elusive last night, and was not entirely happy to see her younger son that morning. Still, she couldn't blame him for being excited; it was his birthday, after all.

"Mommy, it's time to get up!" he sang, relaxing on the covers between her and Sparda's long-empty side of the bed.

"But I don't want to get up," Eva protested, sitting up and raising her arms above her head in a luxurious stretch.

"You will. You have to make us breakfast," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I do, do I?" Eva tickled her son's belly, making him laugh. "And why, pray tell, can you not get a bowl down from the cupboard and make yourself some cereal?"

Dante shook his head. "Not on my birthday, Mom. I dunno about Vergil, but I want pancakes."

His mother smiled, and reached out to tousle his white locks. "Fine. I'll make you pancakes for breakfast. But first let me get some more sleep. Your mommy is still very tired, and doesn't need to be nodding off in the batter or over a hot stove."

"Okay, Mom." She lay back down on the pillows, and Dante snuggled up against her again, pulling an afghan over himself and closing his eyes for sleep he likewise wanted more of. Eva laid her arm on his back, thankful that at least one of her sons didn't think it was strange or childish to crawl in with her and sleep or talk with his mother at their age. Vergil had stopped doing that about six months ago.

About fifteen minutes after she dropped off to sleep, the door opened again. Vergil peeked in, and hesitated when he saw that his mother and younger twin were asleep. The door squeaked as he leaned on it a little too far, and Eva opened her eyes. She smiled tiredly when she saw her elder son in the doorway and, turning onto her back, patted the vacant space between her and the edge of the bed, inviting him to join them.

Vergil hesitated. Normally he would turn down the invitation, believing it somehow beneath him. But this time a feeling of profound, unexplainable need for his mother's loving presence overwhelmed him, and he crawled in atop the sheets but beneath the comforter beside her.

Eva ran her fingers through his hair so it stood on end, spiky like a punk hairdo, and lay back down between her sons for some much-needed sleep, turned towards Vergil this time so he wouldn't feel left out.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Nalasmil had found them.

She had used her occult abilities to scry for the sons of Sparda for hours, scouring every inch of the city, and only now had she picked up their scent. Raksh writhed in delight inside her as the human woman and her twin sons appeared in the enchanted mirror.

_You have done well, Nalasmil, _he purred inside her mind. _Now that we have them, put a tracer on the woman. We cannot lose her, or her sons, again if our purpose is to be accomplished. _

"Yes, Master." Nalasmil centered herself, and began to whisper words of dark power, calling upon the dread lords of Hell to give her the means to pursue her prey, the sacrifice she would offer them in exchange for even more dark favors.

Three sacrifices of the original four, each long-anticipated by Raksh and his masters.

Sparda had escaped their net, but his woman, his precious sons, would not.

The power of the blackest hearts spilled into her, and Nalasmil arched back, gasped with the intense pleasure-pain of the demons' touch. She whispered a short string of harsh syllables, a dark spell that made the air seem to curdle around her, and pressed a single finger against the female in the mirror. She traced a rune upon the glass, and the character burned with yellow-green flames, drew itself upon the woman's back beneath the thin nightdress she wore. She shifted uneasily, but didn't awaken.

Nalasmil smoothed her hand cross the demonic character on the mirror, and the rune on the woman's back vanished from sight. But it was still there. Nalasmil could feel the marking tugging at her senses, telling her in which direction the human woman lay.

"How long will it take to gather your allies?" she asked.

_Today and tomorrow, _Raksh whispered. _Mundus, Prince of Darkness, will rise from the depths to take on mortal shape, and his servants will accompany him. His lesser servants, that is. You and I shall act as the hounds, leading him to the slaughter before he returns to the Pit. _Nalasmil felt the deep rumbling, the vaguely ticklish feeling that meant he was laughing. _He will kill the woman himself. Sparda defeated him two thousand years ago; her death at the hands of Mundus would greatly wound the traitor. _

"And the sons?"

_That is what the petty demons are for. They will hunt them down and slay them, because while they are indeed the sons of Sparda, they are weak, and beneath the notice of the Prince of Darkness. The fact that his sons were killed by the least of the demons would also be of great torment to that cursed Sparda._

"So the attack will commence tomorrow, after dark." Nalasmil smiled wickedly. "At the stroke of midnight, the bloodline of Sparda will exist no more."

Within her, the demon laughed, and Nalasmil joined him, first a cruel chuckle, then she threw back her head and laughed aloud, a maniacal cackling known only to the insane, the most wicked of human beings.

All would fall into place soon.

Very soon.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Eva finished rinsing her long blonde hair and turned off the water, reaching for a waiting towel. She had already fixed the boys' breakfast, and they were feasting on fresh pancakes with real maple syrup. They had been good this morning, with no arguments at all. Vergil had even volunteered to help Dante with the dishes after breakfast.

She smiled; they simply didn't want her to refuse them their presents. She had done that when they were seven, and they had never forgotten it.

After toweling off and blowing her hair dry, she dressed in a knee-length skirt and a sleeveless white top. A pair of boots finished off the outfit, and she brushed her hair out, making sure that her bangs fell as they should, across her right eye. Satisfied, she opened her dresser and, after lifting aside some clothes, pulled out two boxes.

These had been given to her by Sparda when first she had slept with him, on what turned out to be the twin's conception. Eva had kept them ever since, knowing that any children she bore would treasure them.

She opened the boxes. Two blood-red jewels, each glowing with a soft inner light, glittered up at her. The gems, in their respective gold and silver chain settings, were each as big as her hands. Eva had never worn them herself, but she was willing to bet that her sons would.

She lifted them out of their boxes and went downstairs. Vergil and Dante were still eating, still being nice to one another. It gladdened her to see that, because she really did hate it when they fought. They looked up expectantly as she came through the swinging kitchen door.

Eva fought to hide her grin, to keep it toned down to a tiny smile. They knew that whatever she had behind her back was for them.

She stood there for a few minutes, until both of them were fidgeting in their seats. This was a game they played on each other's birthdays, seeing how long the birthday-person could hold out before demanding their gifts. "So, what do you want to do today, boys?" she asked, drawing out the suspense even more.

"Mom!" they both yelled, their patience at the breaking point.

She couldn't hide her grin. "Oh, did you want something?"

"C'mon, already!" Dante groaned.

"Give us our presents!" his brother demanded.

"If you insist…." Eva sighed, mock-disappointment, then her face brightened into a smile. "Vergil, Dante…" She brought the amulets out from behind her back and offered them to the twins. "Happy birthday!"

Their eyes widened when they saw the amulets. "Oh wow!" Dante nearly fell out of his chair trying to get out of it.

"I want the dark one!" Vergil reached her first, and grabbed the gold one from her left hand. Dante reached her a minute later, to claim the amulet with the silver chain.

Eva seated herself and poured a glass of orange juice, sipping it while her sons slipped the chains over their heads and argued over who looked best.

"Where did you find these, Mom?" Vergil asked. He and Dante were now closely inspecting the other's new neckwear.

Eva got up and put some bread in the toaster. "Your father gave them to me. Don't lose them; they can't be replaced."

"We won't, Mom."

"We'll take good care of them." Dante hopped back into his chair, ready to finish breakfast. Vergil went to his mother and tapped her on the shoulder. When she leaned down, he kissed her cheek.

"Thanks, Mom."

"You are welcome. Just take care of it, okay?" She raked her fingers through his hair again, and he scowled at her before smoothing it back down.

Secretly, Eva was glad he had. When she had looked at her sons just then, one with his hair flopping across his eyes, the other with it standing straight up in uneven spikes, she had felt as if she was receiving a glimpse of the future. A future that, for some unknown reason, filled her with dread.

Vergil went to watch T.V while she and Dante finished breakfast. They could hear him watching cartoons through the door. When Dante had put his plate in the sink, he went to his mother, who still sat nibbling her toast and reading the paper, which he had brought in when she had gone upstairs for her shower.

"Thanks, Mom." He hugged her tightly, and Eva twisted in her seat to return the gesture.

"You're welcome."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _In case you're wondering where Vergil is today, he is currently tied down to his bed as punishment for locking us up yesterday. Do not fear for his welfare; Dante has been sufficiently bribed into keeping as far away from his brother as he can get._

(turns computer so readers can see Dante laying sprawled on the couch, surrounded by pizza boxes and empty beer bottles. He is staring at the tv, his eyes glazed over)

Dante (obviously drunker than a skunk): _But if it was orange, how could they put wheels on it?_

(he is watching "Late Night with David Letterman.")

Queen: _He'll be out of it for a day or so. Pizza and beer-induced coma, you see. Now, I must go and feed Vergil. He'd better not have broken those chains again. Hundred bucks says he's going to be furious when I get in there. Man never did like being at the mercy of someone else. _

Dante: _The cow killed the bottle of Oreos. How did the Oreos give the naked statue the flu?_

Queen: _I could let you listen to his babbling for a while, but I think that it might be better for your sanity if I just ended this now. Review please! _

(transmission ended, leaving the readers staring at their blank screens in wonder)


	7. Soulcalibur and Vergie

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Soulcalibur and Vergil's Girlfriend

Eva had some errands to run, so after allowing the twins to blow out the candles on their cake and letting them each have a slice as a morning treat, she took them to the video arcade and left them with a twenty to get quarters from. This was a welcome treat, because she almost never let them go to the arcade. Some of the town's rougher kids hung out there in the afternoon, and she didn't want her sons messing around with them.

While she went about her errands, she never noticed Nalasmil trailing her, even more subtly than she had the day before. Every now and then she felt an itchy sensation in the center of her back, but that was all.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Yes!" Dante punched his fist into the air in a victorious dance. "My win!"

"You aren't going to beat me that easily!" Vergil worked the controls of _Mortal Kombat III _furiously, determined that his Reptile would beat Dante's Jade. Dante fought back, and soon his arm shot into the air again.

Vergil scowled. Dante was always the winner in _Mortal Kombat_, but surely there was a game on which he could gain even footing! He glanced around, and his eyes lit up. "How about this one?"

"_Soul Calibur_?" His brother looked at the machine, one that neither of them had ever seen before. "Hey Tony!"

"_Si_, kid?" Tony, the long-haired Mexican who ran the arcade, looked up from where he was tinkering with _Mrs. Pac-Man_, a machine that was almost constantly on the fritz.

"How old is this one?"

"Only about a month old, and it's already the _caliente de muy _game I've got! Some nights all the kids in the city come to watch each other play it." He stretched his arms wide. "One big crowd, all gathered around the _Soul Calibur _machine. They don't even touch the other games on nights like that!"

"Is it easy to play?" Vergil asked, watching the story flash across the machine.

"_Si_, once you get the hang of it." Tony stuck his head back inside _Mrs. Pac-Man_. "Give it a shot, _muchachos_."

The twins looked at each other, shrugged, and put fifty cents into the coin slot. Dante picked Maxi, an Elvis-like character with a pair of nunchuks, and Vergil chose Mitsurugi, a man with a ponytail and dressed partially in samurai armor. He used a katana, just like Yamato.

The game kept them occupied for the rest of the afternoon, until Eva returned.

"Did you boys have a good time?" she asked, taking them home.

"Yep," They reached around in front of her and punched their fists together, a boyish gesture of victory.

She smiled. At least they were getting along. "So what do you want for dinner?"

They both grinned, then threw back their heads in a simultaneous movement. "PIZZA!!!"

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

They ordered an extra-large pepperoni pizza at Donatello's Pizzeria. While they sat at a booth eating, a young girl came tripping up to the table. She was a pretty little thing, with curly dark hair and enormous brown eyes, wearing a pink sundress decorated with white ribbons. She was holding something behind her back.

"Hello, Vergie," she said in a sing-song voice.

Vergil flushed, and grabbed his Coke. Dante snickered. His brother scowled at him, and took a long drink to cover his embarrassment. This girl was not someone he wanted to see today, or any other day.

"I have a present for you."

"Lila, I don't…."

She shoved a picture on the table, a piece of yellow construction paper with the words "Lila and Vergil" carefully printed across the top. There were two colored stick figures holding hands and smiling, one in a pink dress, the other wearing a blue shirt.

Vergil shoved a hand through his hair and allowed his annoyance to show on his face. Ever since she'd started first grade, Donatello's daughter Lila had thought herself in love with him. She followed him around constantly, called him 'Vergie,' and was always telling everyone in earshot that he was her boyfriend. He had to stay away from the jungle gym at school if she was climbing on it, because she always tried to kiss him if he was close enough.

Dante thought her antics quite amusing, but he still sympathized with his twin. Before she had learned the difference between them, or rather the shirts they wore, Lila had often mistaken him for Vergil. Their class-mates had never stopped teasing Vergil about his little admirer until he'd beaten up a couple of them. They still whispered about it, but never to his face.

"Lila, go away."

"But Vergie, I'm supposed to give you a gift. You're my boyfriend."

"I'm _not_ your boyfriend," he growled.

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Lila!" The voice came from upstairs. Donatello's wife, Mama Isabella, was bed-ridden with their sixth impending baby. "Lila, leave them alone and come up here!"

Lila pouted, and climbed in the booth beside Eva. Despite Vergil's outraged expression, she did not get down, and Eva was too polite to simply shove her off. She did not scoot over to make more room for her, however.

There was a murmur of voices, and heavy footsteps creaked across the ceiling and down the stairs behind the counter. A moment later, Donatello and Mama Isabella's eldest son, Raphael, came into view.

Raphael was the original Italian Stallion. Tall and heavily muscled, with heart-breakingly good looks and long black hair he kept in a ponytail, he always had girls swooning over him, especially if they had heard the rumors concerning the size of his package. Raphael didn't seem to care; he was faithful to his girlfriend, Andrea. For such a gorgeous man, he was amazingly laid-back. Oh, he was not above flexing his impressive muscles to catch a girl's eye, but for the most part he just didn't care.

He strolled over to the table. "Good evening, Miss Eva. Is my sister being a pain?"

"Yes!" Vergil ripped into his slice of pizza, as if imaging it to be Lila.

"Yes, Raphael. She is bothering my son," Eva replied. "Give my regards to your mother for me, will you please?"

"I will, Miss Eva. C'mon, Lila. Leave the customers alone." He gave Dante and Vergil a sly wink as he threw Lila, kicking and screaming, over his shoulder. Holding onto her firmly, he disappeared back up the stairs.

Vergil flopped back against the booth. "Man, why can't she leave me alone?"

"I guess you're just too handsome to ignore." Dante bit his pizza slice, long strings of cheese stretching from slice to his mouth. "Though I don't see how, since everyone knows I'm the handsome one."

"You're going to find that most young girls are going to be like that, until they gain some measure of maturity." Eva sipped her root beer, more thirsty than hungry.

"It's because Mama Isabella spoils _mi piccola_." Donatello, the plump owner of the pizza parlor, brought them their cinnamon-sugar breadsticks and a refill for the twins' Cokes. "Lila was our first _bambina_ after four _bambinos. _She's gonna have a sister soon, but the damage has already been done. Lila's often more trouble than her brothers ever were."

"How is Isabella doing, anyway?" Eva asked.

"This is gonna be her last pregnancy," Donatello explained. "This _bambina _is giving her real trouble, and we have doctor's orders now. Mama Isabella's gonna get her tubes tied after she has this baby." He whipped out a pen and pad of paper and began scribbling furiously. "The sticks are on the house, courtesy of Lila's next few allowances. Here's your bill."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Nalasmil felt Raksh almost salivating inside her. _What is it? _

_The key. The sons of Sparda wear the key._

_The key? The key to what? _

_Temen-ni-gru._

The woman had heard that name. Anyone who had made an extensive study of history connected with demonic activity had heard that name. _But the tower is shattered._

_They have the key. That's all that matters. _

_I see…_ Nalasmil wrapped herself in darkness as the family exited the pizza parlor and began walking home. _One more day. _

_One more day. The day after tomorrow will see the extinction of the bloodline of Sparda, and the death of his woman. _

_The Prince will be ready by tomorrow? _

_No. He will begin materializing tomorrow. The day, or rather, night afterwards, the slaughter will begin._

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _You have no idea how many girls I know who are exactly like this. I think it's sickening how they demean themselves for dudes who don't even give a damn about little things like this. Lila is based on a kid I knew in elementary school who was, for lack of a better term, completely boy-crazy. _

Vergil: _This girl wouldn't happen to be you, would she?_

Queen: _Naw, I hated guys when I was little. And with good reason, I might add. _

Dante: _So you've told me. I just find it funny that Lila has the hots for Vergil, when I'm the one girls usually go after. _

Vergil: _Don't flatter yourself, brother. Do you know how many letters I receive from fans daily with various kinds of propositions? I'm starting to think that they like the spiky hair more than your hair. _

Queen: _Not the hair argument again…_

(guys continue squabbling over hair. Queen very calmly gets up from chair, scuffing her feet all the way to the couch on the wool carpet. When she reaches the couch, she extends a single finger from both hands, touching their bare shoulders. Static electricity makes a big blue spark on each of their shoulders, making the twins jump)

Dante: _You bitch…_

(Queen takes off, laughing)

Vergil: _This is war! Get back here, you sneaky… _(voice trails off as he and Dante race out the door after the woman, scuffing their feet all the way)

(transmission continues for a while, allowing readers to hear laughter, shouting, and what sounds like wrestling before shutting off automatically)


	8. Prophetic Dreams

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Prophetic Dreams

Dante sat bolt upright in his bunk, a cold sweat coating his skin. He took a wild look around the room, and slowly relaxed.

It was only a dream.

His mother and brother were still alive; he could hear Vergil, still asleep, moving around in his bunk. It had only been a stupid nightmare.

He lay back down and wiped the sweat from his brow. But it had been so real….

Dante tried to get comfortable and fall back to sleep, but he was just too restless. After a while, he quietly got out of bed and padded downstairs to the kitchen. He got himself a drink of water, then sat at the table and put his head down.

Why had this dream shaken him so much? He hadn't been this scared by a bad dream in years. It was a stupid nightmare, and his mother and brother were still safe and sound. Where had this one come from?

"Dante?" He felt a hand on shoulder, and knew it to be his mother's. "What are you doing up?"

"Bad dream," he muttered.

"Oh." She lifted her hand, and he felt a blanket being draped over his shoulders. He lifted his head, and noticed that she seemed likewise on edge. She had put on her robe, which meant that something heavy was on her mind, and was leaning against the refrigerator, her arms crossed and her eyes troubled. "It seems that we are of similar mind this night. I had a nightmare, as well."

"What was yours about?" he asked, wanting to get his mind off his nightmare.

She didn't answer. Instead, she opened the fridge and got out the leftovers of the cake. "Would you like a snack? That used to help me forget my bad dreams when I was little."

"Sure, Mom." He watched her cut two slices and pour herself a glass of milk. She gave him one slice, then sat across from him with the other one.

"I'll tell you about my dream if you tell me yours," she offered.

He heaved a sigh. "I don't know where this nightmare came from. You and I were sitting on the couch watching TV, and Vergil was reading a book in the chair by the door. Then the door shattered open and…..things…. flowed in."

"What kind of things?"

He took a bite of cake. The icing seemed far too sweet, sticking to the roof of his mouth as it hadn't that morning. He washed it down with a gulp of water. Even then, the cake stuck in his throat, then sat in his stomach like a stone. "Big, shadowy things. I couldn't really tell what they were. They had red eyes. Anyway, they swarmed in the door and dog-piled Vergil. He screamed, and when they were finished all that was left was a pile of stripped meat and bones. His head was still intact, though, and he was still screaming. That sound never stopped, no matter what they did to him." Dante shuddered, and plunged on. "Then the things came after us. We ran and ran, but they always seemed to get closer. At last they grabbed you, and I stood rooted to the spot while they killed you. Then they came at me. I woke up just as one of them touched me." He wiped his eyes, brushing away tears that were only just forming. "I couldn't move at all when they got you. I saw everything, and I couldn't do anything to save you. Nothing." He fought back tears. He wasn't going to cry over something this stupid!

Eva folded her hands and stared at them as if she could see straight through them. "My dream was like that. Dark, shadowy things with red eyes chasing us while we ran. I was dragging you and Vergil along behind me, trying to outrun them. Then something rose up in your way, and you tripped. I was too afraid to stop and help you up. I…." She looked away, unable to meet Dante's eyes. "I left you there to die, while Vergil and I ran on. I would never have done so if this was real, but in the dream I was terrified that they would catch me. You screamed for me while I ran, begging me to help you. But I couldn't stop running. Vergil tried to go back, but I wouldn't let him. We ran, and then something long and thin cracked out and caught him around the neck. He was pulled into their midst like a fish on a hook. Again, I couldn't stop. I just kept running. At last, I stopped running, for what reason, I do not know. I fell to the ground and wept. I had abandoned my sons, allowed the demon-things to kill them! I kept crying as they surrounded me, didn't fight back as they pierced me with their weapons, pinning me to the ground and spilling my blood. The pain was great, but the knowledge of my selfish actions was a far greater agony than anything they could inflict upon me. At long last, they ceased their actions and stepped away. I looked up, and then I saw you and Vergil standing before me. Vergil was behind you, a knife to your throat. You stared at me with emotionless eyes, and then he pulled the knife back, slitting your throat. Even as you fell to the ground, dead, your eyes stayed on mine, as if you were accusing me of putting you in this position. As if saying that I had killed you. Your brother laughed, and before my eyes he grew and grew, reaching adulthood in a matter of seconds. The demon-things cowered before him, and I knew him to be their master. Then he….I can only say that he became corrupted. His skin yellowed and cracked open, releasing clouds of sulpheric gas into the air. The scent enveloped me, choking me, and when he laughed again, it was deeper, far more threatening then before. His eyes flashed with red fires, and his mouth filled with fangs. I could only lay there as he approached me, his knife lengthening into a sword. He held it against his shoulder and stared down at me with hatred in his eyes. 'You made me this way, Mother,' he said. 'Now taste the fruits of your labors!' Then he swung the blade, but just as it touched my neck, I woke up." Eva looked up. "You know I would never have left you behind, don't you?"

Dante got up, clutching the blanket around him, and went to his mother. "I know, Mom. It was only a dream. It meant nothing." He put an arm around her and leaned against her back, offering her comfort. "It was just a stupid dream."

"But dreams always mean something. They are always messages from the subconscious, telling us something important." She put a hand on his arm, and bowed her head, both accepting and rejecting his hug. "I don't know what to make of these, mine or yours."

"Who knows what they mean? All I know is that I'm not going to let a stupid nightmare keep me awake." He put his cake back in the fridge, then looked at his mother. "Are you going to go back to bed?"

"I think I'm going to stay here a while longer. Will you stay with me?"

His mother needed him. Dante pulled his chair out again, and sat back down. "Sure, Mom. I will."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Outside the door, Vergil leaned against the wall and listened to them talk. He had also had a nightmare, but his had not involved running from demons, or leaving his mother and brother to die. His had been a little different.

He had been standing on a platform of circular stone, surrounded by darkness. The only light had been where he was standing. A deep, deep voice had welcomed him to the Test of Destiny, and two more lights had come up, spotlighting two more platforms. His mother and Dante stood on one, quiet and unmoving as statues, and Yamato, the sword his father had left him, was stuck hilt-up in the other one.

"Choose the course of your life," the voice invited. "The loving embrace of your family, a peaceful life with your mother and brother, and the promise of a woman who will love you and give you a legacy of flesh and blood, or…." The voice seemed to move to hover over Yamato. "….the power that sleeps within you. Power unmatchable by any in the Human World, and the chance to gain even more. The strength of a god."

"Choose!"

He had looked from one to the other, unable to decide. Dante and his mother beckoned to him on their platform, asking him to stay with them and never leave. But their pleading was matched by the silent call of Yamato. The sword _spoke _to him, saying that it could make him into a warrior without equal, that it could help him mold the world to suit his desires. It offered a vision of him slicing annoying Lila apart with its sharp edge while she groveled before him, and thousands of humans and demons knelt before him, calling him 'Prince Vergil.'

"Choose!" the voice demanded.

"Choose! Choose! Choose!"

That call had awoken him, and he still wasn't sure what he would have chosen. Family or power? Power or family? How did one choose between those?

He listened to his mother and twin speak a while longer, and heard Eva describing her dream. He wondered where she had gotten even the slightest notion that he would kill Dante, or her, for that matter. Surely he would never do such a thing. As for the monster-thing she described him as becoming, he couldn't see himself ever taking on such an appearance. Volcanic cracks in his skin? No way!

He realized that Dante was planning on going back to bed. He didn't want his younger brother to see him like this, afraid of a damn dream; he sprinted back up the stairs as quietly as he could, and jumped back into bed, turning away to the wall so Dante wouldn't see that he was still awake.

He had to wait a long time before his brother came back into their room. He heard Dante quietly shut the door behind him, then approach the bed. He sensed his brother standing over him, watching him, and fought hard not to move, to force his breathing into the slow rhythm of sleep. He didn't want to answer any questions right now.

Dante stood there for a long time, then climbed up on the dresser and pulled down his pillow and another blanket. Vergil heard him spreading them out on the floor beside the bunk, laying down on the carpet with the blankets over him. A short while later, his breathing eased, and he fell asleep.

Vergil rolled over and regarded his younger twin. Dante lay curled on the floor, facing his brother's bunk, as if he thought his older brother could protect him from more nightmares. He seemed so helpless, so innocent, sleeping like that….

Vergil lay back on the bed and drew up the covers, facing his twin. He had sometimes guarded Dante's sleep from nightmares when they were younger. It cost him nothing to do so once more.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _These dreams are pretty important, so take note of them! _

Dante: _I think they would anyway, Queen…_


	9. Descent into Insanity

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Descent into Insanity

Nalasmil knelt before an enormous brazier of blackest iron, her hands pressed tightly together before her breast. Between her hands was a mixture of human heart, brain, and eyeballs. The organs had come from a homeless man she had picked up off the street, fed and cleaned the day before. The man hadn't appreciated the honor given him when she had sacrificed him. He hadn't appreciated being the catalyst for such a historical ritual at all.

Deep within her body, Raksh chanted a spell of blackest, most forbidden magic, and she repeated the infernal syllables. The spell went back and forth between them in a continuous loop, gaining power and momentum with each pass. It grew, swelled between them, human and demon, and though the fires of its strength burned with unholy fire they did not let up and release it. It wasn't powerful enough yet.

At long last, the spell became too large, too strong, for either of them to contain it any longer. Screaming the incantation one last time, they released the spell into the brazier.

Then the woman sat back to wait, knowing that she had been successful.

Shapes began to form in the smoke. It had been two thousand years since Mundus had taken on a corporeal shape in the Human World, so this first attempt would take some time. It would take all of today and most of tomorrow for him to allow even this tiny piece of himself to come into this world, but he would materialize, along with the petty demons he had brought along to aid in the chase.

Nalasmil grinned. She could almost taste the blood of the doomed twins on her lips.

Nalasmil had never actually intended to associate with demons, when first she had opened that book of occult rituals. She had been afflicted from birth with a genetic condition that made her extremely sensitive to sunlight, and required her to drink blood if she wanted to survive. This disease, porphyria, had dragged at her heels everyday, and no matter how many doctors and specialists her parents had taken her to, the normal, mundane medicines and treatments known to the humans had failed to aid her.

So she had turned to the occult, and managed to decipher an ancient text written in a dead language, in the hopes that it might offer her some relief from her genetic curse. That book had been Raksh's prison, and he had possessed her body when she had read it aloud. But she had not rejected him, nor had she attempted to have him removed from her body; unlike other possessed humans, she had never drowned beneath his power and allowed him to overtake her. Raksh's presence within her subdued the disease so she could walk in sunlight, and allowed her to stop drinking blood every day, with every meal. For Nalasmil, being possessed was more of a blessing than a curse.

But she had never truly stopped drinking blood. Her life no longer depended on its consumption, but she had another reason to consume the crimson fluids of her victims. Through her studies, Nalasmil had learned to harness the latent power, the strength of the life-force, that was contained in human blood. She had mastered the art of assimilating their unused power into herself, and granting herself greater power than she ever could gain at the hands of her 'benefactors.'

Mundus had no use for the corpses of two scrawny boys, or one human woman. He merely wished them dead. Nalasmil would drain them once the Prince of Darkness had finished with them, and drink their blood. The power she would gain from the boys alone would be enough for her to reform her DNA, so that she could rid herself of both porphyria and Raksh in a single gulp. She would be her own master, controlled by neither demon nor disease.

She watched Mundus forming in the smoke, and smiled.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

School was out for the year, but the kids were still allowed to play on the playground equipment. Eva let the boys go play, happy for the peace and quiet. She wanted to get some housework done, and it would be finished that much faster without her sons underfoot.

She was vacuuming out the living room when something caught in the head of the Hoover while she swept under the couch. She frowned, then pulled it out and switched off the vacuum cleaner.

With only minor shaking, a raggedy old lion doll fell out into her hand.

She stared at it for a long moment, then took it in both hands and hugged it to her heart. This was Charlie, Vergil's old toy lion. It was a tiny thing, but he had dragged it everywhere when he was little. She had had to stop him from taking it to kindergarten with him when he and Dante had started school.

Dante hadn't had a lion like Charlie, but he had had a teddy bear for a while, Boo the Bear. Boo had been lost when he was four, but Vergil had kept Charlie. How had he gotten under here?

She thought back, and realized when it must have happened. Vergil and Dante had both come down with a nasty stomach bug two years ago, soon after they had moved across town to this house. Her sons almost never got sick, but that had been one of the few times when they had caught something. On the rare occasion that he was ill, Dante always watched television while laying on the couch; Vergil, on the other hand, would curl up on the other side of the couch, cuddle Charlie, and try to get some sleep. Charlie had probably fallen off the couch and gotten kicked under the sofa when one of the twins had raced upstairs to the bathroom, taking care of the intestinal issue that didn't involve pans laying beside the couch.

Eva took Charlie downstairs to the washing machine, and dropped him in with the colors. He was older now, but there was little doubt in her mind that Vergil would be happy to see his old companion again.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"I'm gonna getcha! Get back here!"

Dante chased Tommy past the swings, and under the slide, which Vergil had just finished spinning down. Tommy saw him, and raced to take cover behind the elder twin. "Save me, Vergil! He's gonna get me!"

Vergil smirked and rolled away when his brother leapt at him in a flying tackle. Tommy, a skinny little ten year old with brown hair and glasses, laughed as Dante took him down. Then he retaliated to Vergil's trick by reaching out and grabbing his ankle, pulling him down with them. Laughing, they collapsed in a jellified puddle, just happy to be playing together again.

Tommy had been the kid who lived next door with his widowed father at their old house. He had played with them every day when they had lived there, and he remained their friends now, two years later.

"We'll get you muscled up someday, Tommy!" Dante declared, giving the younger boy a noogie.

"If this is your idea of a training program, forget it!" Tommy rolled onto his back, blinking owlishly at the bright sunlight. "I think you'd kill me first."

"That can be arranged…." Tommy looked at Vergil with shocked eyes, then punched his arm.

They all laughed, and flopped onto their backs, basking in the warm sunlight. There was no one else in the schoolyard today. The three friends had it to themselves.

"Oh, Veeerrrrgiiiiieeeeee!!!"

Vergil jack-knifed up, and saw Lila come through the gate, followed by Raphael and his girlfriend, a pretty blonde named Andrea. The little girl started running when she saw him.

"Oh, crap!" Vergil grabbed his brother and hauled him up. "C'mon, Dante! Tommy, distract her!"

The twins raced around the school building, and skidded to a stop. "Quick! Swap me shirts!"

"Vergil, I don't think…."

"Please, Dante! I don't want her to chase me around today! Besides, _you_ like girls! I don't want one yet!" He held out his blue dragon t-shirt, one of his favorites. "Please!"

Dante sighed, and shed his black Motley Crue shirt and took Vergil's. "Okay, I'll do it. But you owe me, bro!"

"Thanks!" Vergil took the band shirt and slipped it over his head, tucking his amulet into the neckline. Dante did likewise. But as his head emerged from the top, his customary grin flashed onto his face.

"What's say we have some fun with Lila?" he asked slyly.

"Incoming!" Tommy yelled.

Vergil peeked around the corner. Lila was still trying to get at them, and Tommy as holding her back, buying them precious time to hatch a plan. He turned back to his grinning brother. "What do you have in mind?"

When Dante finished whispering in his ear, Vergil was grinning too.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

When Lila came around the corner, she found one of the twins leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and he didn't seem to have noticed her.

"Vergie!" she cried, running to hug him.

He shrugged her off. "I'm not Vergil. I'm Dante."

She took a step back, and looked into his face, trying to see if he was telling the truth. But without a shirt or something to identify him, she couldn't be sure. "Sorry, Dante. Where's Vergie at?"

"Hey!" She whirled; the other brother waved at her from around the corner. He was likewise naked from the waist up. She raced to catch him, but he eluded her, and she lost sight of him.

Lila skidded to a stop and looked around. Then she noticed a white-haired twin sitting calmly on the top of the jungle gym, swinging his feet through the hole in the top.

"Vergie?" she called, climbing halfway up. "Is that you?"

"Nope. Wrong again." He dropped to the ground, and raced off before she could get down.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Passing through the gate, Vergil slapped his brother's hand, sending Dante racing off into the playground. Tommy had been enlisted, and had gone off to the theater room, where he would find the prop he needed to aid in the deception.

Making sure their shirts and amulets were still hidden in the bushes, he snuck around the back of the school, bypassing Raphael and Andrea making out in the long grass – the rumors about his package _were_ true, Vergil noted idly – and running to the next meeting point. This really was fun. Lila still had no clue that they were tricking her. How many times had they switched off by now? Six? Seven? Ten? How much longer could they go before she finally suspected something?

Vergil put the questions out of his head as Dante ran back into view. "Your turn," he panted.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Lila was starting to wonder if she was going crazy. The only twin she was running into was Dante, never Vergil. He was everywhere!

Everywhere!

There he was again, leaning against the slide.

She approached him slowly, unsure that she would be successful in deciphering his identity for once. "Vergie?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yep."

She brightened.

"Psyche! I'm Dante. Dunno where Vergil is." He walked away, hands in his jean pockets, just as another shirtless, platinum-haired boy came into view.

It had to be him! There was Dante, so the other one had to be his twin! "Vergie! I found you!" she cried, running to greet him with outstretched arms.

He turned, and stared at her in confusion. "I'm Tommy, Lila. I haven't seen Vergil all day."

"But….you…..I…." she stammered. The world was going crazy! Since when did Tommy have white hair?

A hand tapped her shoulder. She turned to face yet another boy with white hair. "Vergie?" she asked softly, sounding very small indeed.

"Nope. Vergil's gone home."

He said this just as a third boy came strolling up behind him, one had behind his back. She pointed at the newcomer. "If he's gone home, then who's that?"

Dante turned, and looked in the direction Lila was pointing. When he turned back, he seemed utterly confused. "There's no one there, Lila."

"Yes, there is! He's right behind you!"

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest, Lila." She jumped; she hadn't even realized Tommy was behind her. "I can assure you, Vergil is not here."

"But….but…." The boy waved at her, a huge grin on his face.

She thought…..no, there definitely were…..

Jagged fangs glittered in his mouth.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Raphael and Andrea were just dressing when Lila screamed. The big man was up and running to her aid before the last piercing cry faded away, his unfastened belt flapping around his waist. He found his little sister sitting on the ground, her knees hugged to her chest, seeming very, very shaken indeed. She was rocking back and forth, as if to comfort herself. Eva's twins and Tommy were swinging on the swings a short distance away (they were all wearing shirts again).

"Lila?" Raphael got down beside her. "Lila, what's wrong?"

She slowly looked up, little comprehension in her dark, haunted eyes. "Vergie…..Not here…." she said in a small, soft voice.

Raphael was confused by her statement – Vergil was right over there on the swings! – and he cast the boys a questioning glance as he picked her up. As he passed the swings, Lila screamed again, and buried her face in his neck.

"Devil!" she sobbed. "Vergie-devil! Devil-Vergie! Devil!"

"Shhh," Raphael soothed, stroking her hair. "Vergil's not a devil. C'mon, _piccola_. Let's get you home so Mama can take a look at you."

As soon as Raphael's sleek car pulled away, the trio burst out laughing. "Did you hear her?" Dante hooted. "Devil-Vergie! What the hell did you do to her, brother?"

"Maybe now she'll leave me alone," Vergil chuckled, sidestepping the question. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd done either, or how he had done it. But whatever it was, it had sufficiently terrified Lila. He didn't care what their little joke might have done to her; all that mattered was that she leave him alone for once.

"Maybe we shouldn't have done that," Tommy said, dragging his feet in the dirt beneath his swing. "Raphael looked like he suspected us. What is he tells his parents that we're responsible for their daughter's nervous breakdown?"

"Does it matter?" Vergil leapt off the swing, a graceful arc farther than Tommy could ever hope to land. "C'mon, Tommy. Your dad's here."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Dante: _We be cruel in this one! See? We weren't so innocent as kids either!_

Vergil: _They have no idea some of the things we did around the neighborhood when we were little. Remember what they used to call us?_

Dante: _The Terror Twins. How could I forget!_

_  
_Vergil: _Our neighbors really started hating the word "Jackpot." Old Man Dickens would flinch whenever he heard it. _

Dante: _After what we did to him, he had a good reason. Am I ever glad Mom didn't hear about that one!_

Queen: _What are you guys DOING???_

(transmission cut off)


	10. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Calm Before the Storm

Eva had finally finished cleaning when the car pulled out outside. Tommy waited in the front seat while his father, Douglas, took Dante and Vergil up to the door. "Here are your sons, Eva," he said when she answered his ring. "They had a good run on the playground. Perhaps they won't be so full of energy for a while."

Eva rewarded him with a grateful smile as her sons strolled through the door. Douglas' wife had died when Tommy was just a baby, but after grieving for three years he had suddenly taken notice of the beautiful blonde living next door. The tall, thin man had known that she was living with someone else, a man he could tell from first glance that he did not want to piss off, but that hadn't stopped him from slyly hinting at his interest in her. After all, he had never seen a true wedding band on her finger. Just an engraved silver ring with an amethyst setting, and that ring was on the wrong hand.

He had no way of knowing that that ring _was_ her wedding band.

"Thank you, Douglas. I hope you are right about their energy. I could use the rest." She ushered the boys into the dining room, and told them she'd make lunch in a moment.

Douglas still stood in the doorway. "Douglas," she began.

"Eva, please." He came forward and caught her hand. "At least let me take you out to dinner. Your sons' father has been gone for two years; at least give me a chance." He gave her a sad, puppy-eyed look. "Please, will you go out to dinner with me? Next Saturday night, perhaps?"

"No, Douglas. That's always Movie Night with my sons." She tried to pull away, but he would not be so easily dissuaded.

"Then Friday night? Please, Eva. I'm not going to be put off forever."

Eva still held out hope for Sparda's return, even though the chances were getting slimmer with each passing day. But she had to admit that she missed the company of a man. Douglas was not a man she could see herself spending too much time with, but it wouldn't hurt to go out with him. Would it?

Besides, he was a good man. The intricate wards protecting their home had never reacted adversely to him.

"Fine," she sighed. "Friday night it is."

"At 8:00." He kissed her hand, then went out the door, a wide grin on his face. Eva closed the door behind him, then put a hand to her temple. How was she going to get a babysitter for her sons? Most of the neighborhood girls would be busy on Friday night, and all of the ones she would have trusted with her boys would have dates.

And of course, some would simply refuse. Before the boys had learned to control themselves, they had scared several girls away from baby-sitting permanently. Their very first sitter, in fact, had come down with something very much akin to schizophrenia.

There was, however, no doubt in her mind that she would need a sitter. Vergil was responsible enough to stay at home alone, but Dante just didn't strike her as being ready, even if his twin would be there to make sure he stayed out of trouble. And there was no guarantee that he wouldn't get into a fight with his brother. She simply couldn't trust the boys alone in the house. Maybe their neighbor Ingrid would watch them. She needed the money, after all, to feed all of her hundreds of cats.

The boys were sitting patiently when she entered the dining room. "How about ham sandwiches and potato chips for lunch?" she asked. "With cake for dessert?"

"Sounds good!" They said it in unison, and she went back into the kitchen to make lunch.

"So she's really going out with Tommy's dad?" Vergil asked softly.

"Looks like it." Dante traced a circular patter on the table's polished surface. He had been the one eavesdropping on their mother. Neither of them were pleased by her agreement to Douglas' advances.

"Guess she thinks Dad isn't coming back." Vergil scratched at the back of his hand.

"She didn't sound as if she wanted to go on a date, Vergil."

His brother made a non-committal sound. He couldn't help but think that their mother was somehow betraying their father by agreeing to go on a date with another man. He knew, deep down, that Sparda wasn't going to come back, but he couldn't dismiss the thought.

Their mother came through the door a few minutes later, bearing a plate of sandwiches and a fresh bag of Doritos. She set them down on the table, then went back into the kitchen. Her return saw her put a paper plate at all three seats, as well as one pile of napkins for each twin. When she came back a third time, she had three tall glasses, filled with root beer and ice cream.

Vergil's eyes lit up when he saw them. Root beer floats were one of his favorite treats. He and Dante sometimes argued over which was the better dessert: root beer floats or strawberry sundaes.

After saying grace, the boys grabbed for the sandwiches and a handful of chips. There was little conversation as they devoured the meal, finishing off the entire plate of sandwiches in only a few minutes. Eva had no idea where they had learned the habit, but both of them were voracious eaters, quick to throw anything and everything down their throats. She nibbled at her sandwich while they gulped down fistfuls of chips.

Dante finished first, and got up from his chair. "Thanks, Mom!" he called as he ran up the stairs. Vergil slowed down to savor his float, and Eva went back into the kitchen briefly.

"Vergil, I found something of yours today."

He looked up, a smear of ice cream on his chin. "What?"

"This." She presented him with the toy lion, all fresh and clean, his mane soft and fluffy from the dryer.

"You found Charlie!" He took the lion and hugged it to him, seeming more like a child then a preteen at that moment. "Where did you find him? I looked everywhere for him!"

"Beneath the couch. I cleaned him for you, and if you will notice he is no longer missing an eye."

Vergil hugged the toy again, then his head snapped up and he glanced back at the stairs. "Dante is upstairs, right?"

Eva nodded, trying hard not to grin.

He got up slowly, and walked around the table to his mother. After a moment of hesitation, he threw his arms around her neck in a heartfelt hug. "Thanks, Mom," he whispered.

She put her arms around him, laying her cheek against his soft hair. "You're welcome, my son."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The eyes stared at her, seething red orbs floating in a cloud of velvet black. Threatening. Demanding that she bow to him.

Nalasmil did not.

Raksh was her master, not Mundus, not even by default. She would work with him, but not for him, not as a servant. She was powerful, but Mundus had other servants far more powerful than she. He would not fight Raksh to claim her. She simply wasn't worth the trouble.

The air filled with a wicked laugh, a sound that reverberated in her bones. He was amused by her defiance.

_**The bunt begins tonight,** _he announced.

_He cannot gain complete physical form in the Human World at this point, _Raksh whispered within her heart. _This is as complete as he can become until……certain conditions are met._

"Are your servants ready to go?" Nalasmil asked, inwardly nodding to Raksh.

**_They will be, once darkness shrouds this city and increases their strength. Gather your strength, Raksh. We shall feast on their pain this night._**

**_Now, how many can we expect in their home?_** the Prince inquired, the fires of his eyes leaping at the promise of violence and death, of the screaming agony of his victims.

Nalasmil started to reply, but Raksh took over her body briefly. His voice emerged from his throat in the guise of her own. "Two, master. Sparda's woman, and one son. The second died in a tragic accident some days ago."

**_Good. Part of our work is done for us. Now we must kill the remaining two, and no one will stand between us and domination of this puny Human World._** The eyes glowed even brighter as the sun sank below the horizon, and blood-red gateways opened as demons who had been trapped on this side of the portal two thousand years ago spilled into the Summoning Chamber, their scythes held high and their eyes glowing red with blood-lust. **_Ready yourselves. We go._**

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _I alone am going to continue from here. I don't want to bring back bad memories for Dante and Vergil, so I shall post these chapters only while they are out on hunts. They deserve some peace of mind, not remembering this. Here comes the Nightmare. _

(transmission ended)


	11. Nightmare

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Nightmare

Eva was relaxing in her room with a book. Dinner had been finished, and now Dante was reading comic books in the twins' room while Vergil watched television downstairs. It was peaceful, and night fell softly across their home.

A deceivingly gentle shroud to cover the horrific events unfolding.

Dante came into her room just as she felt the barrier wards tremble.

Then they fell, and an eerie screaming invaded her mind.

She was momentarily stunned. Those wards should not have fallen; she had set them up exactly as Sparda had shown her, told her, with their first house!

"Mom?" Dante knew something was very, very wrong, but his mother's terrified eyes scared him more than the noise outside.

"Get your brother. Now!" She shot out of the bed. "VERGIL!!!" she screamed.

The back door shattered; she heard it, she felt it. The invaders swarmed across the downstairs.

_She heard Vergil scream_.

"Mom? What is it? What's happening?" Dante sounded scared. She didn't blame him. As far as she knew, she only had one son left now.

"Dante, I want you to run away. Run away, and hide." She grabbed his chin, forced him to look at her. "Do you understand? Get as far away as you can!"

"Mom?"

They were still downstairs, but something massive was climbing the stairs. Something that oozed pure evil in its wake. Vergil cried out once more, but his scream was abruptly choked off. Dante's eyes widened in sudden pain and horror. "Mom! Vergil's…."

"Run away, Dante! Don't worry about me or Vergil; go out the window, get as far away as you can, and hide. No matter what happens, you must never come out. Do you understand me, Dante? Do not disobey me!" She hugged him fast, a mother's last desperate embrace, then shoved him towards the window. "Go! Do not let the demons get you! Run!"

He stumbled away and out the window, his eyes so full of fear and vulnerability that she ached to go to him, to comfort him and tell him this was all just a dream.

But she could not. If Dante was to have a chance at life, she had to give it to him.

With one last breath to gather her courage, Eva sprinted out the door and back towards the kitchen. She heard an unearthly scream of victory as something caught sight of her, and ran faster. She had to buy her son time to get away; Sparda's guns were in his study, and she knew there just wasn't time to get to them. Leading the demons away from him where the best she could do under the circumstances.

But someone was in the shattered doorway. It was the pale woman who had followed her and her sons to the supermarket two days ago. She had brought the demons here!

Eva skidded to a stop, and backpedaled fast to race into the living room, to the front door. Shadowy things blocked her path, beings of darkest shadow with glowing eyes and massive scythes. Just like her dream….

She threw herself to the floor and slid between the legs of one demon, throwing herself back to her feet once she was out of reach. But she earned a deep cut across the back of her thigh for her successful maneuver. She fought the urge to cry out, fought the pain burning across her limb. Screaming would only encourage them.

Not that they needed encouraging….

As she passed through the living room, she noticed a bloody shape huddled at the foot of the television. Only a small patch of immaculate white hair told her the identity of the body.

She fought down her gorge, mastered her pain, and raced out the door. She could do nothing more for Vergil, but she had to buy Dante time.

No matter what the cost.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Dante watched his mother run past his hiding spot in the bushes three houses down the street. She was followed soon after by a massive, loping shape with three floating red orbs where the head would have been. He saw that she would take a roundabout way, and get into the house again.

She was protecting him, allowing him time to get away.

But he was rooted to the spot, unable to flee as she had told him.

He was too scared, too much enthralled by the nightmarish scene before him, for his legs to obey his benumbed brain and run away.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Eva streaked back into the house, and up the stairs. The thing chasing her was getting closer with every step, and with the loss of blood from her wound, the woman was barely able to run up the stairs. When she found her way blocked by the woman in white once more, she knew she could flee no more.

She turned, and the floating orbs came ever closer. Now a claw materialized from the darkness, and reached towards her, the deadly point glinting in the dim light of the overhead lights.

Eva whirled and lunged for the other woman. At least this threat to her offspring would be slain!

Before her reaching hands could close around the other female's throat, the claw pierced her backbone and tore out of her belly. An agonized scream filled her throat, and she collapsed to her knees, trying to hold her organs inside her body.

She fell to the carpet, and felt strangely relieved as her life leaked away from her, spilling across the floor in a crimson puddle and staining her golden hair red.

At least Dante was safe. She had failed Vergil, but she had managed to save one of her sons from the demons.

Sparda would be proud of her.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _I had to think long and hard before I came up with this. Capcom never really gives any details about exactly how Eva died, but little clues can be gleaned from the manga and the novels. I did some research in those while writing this. And while I've changed the setting from Dante hiding in an alley to hiding behind some bushes, you can still find a lot of influences from both manga and book in here. _

(looks outside. Curses softly)

Queen: _Shit! I thought they'd be home later than this! Next chapter will have to wait until they get called out again. _

(transmission ended)


	12. Innocence Lost

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Innocence Lost

Dante bit his lip to keep from screaming as the cloud-thing and his demons departed his home from the front door, followed by a pale woman dressed entirely in white. They couldn't have…..

His mother, his brother couldn't have been…..

NO!!!

That feeling of mingled pain from his twin, he had to have imagined it! This had to be a dream! Some imagined night terror that would release him before shattering like so many pieces of glass. He clutched his head and rocked back and forth, digging his fingers into his soft silver hair. _Wake up, Dante, WAKE UP!!!!_ his mind screamed.

Nothing had changed when he opened his eyes. He pinched himself as hard as he could; it hurt brutally.

This wasn't a dream.

Slowly, trancelike, he rose from the bushes. His footsteps took him back to the house – why hadn't anyone noticed the demons, or heard Vergil scream? Why hadn't anyone seen his mother running down the street, pursued by terrors spawned out of the depths of Hell? – and he stopped at the door.

He didn't want to go in. He knew that the boy he had been all these years would die if he saw how thoroughly his life had been destroyed.

But he had to see.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

He saw Vergil first, lying cold and still before the television set. Dante froze, and went to his twin, fell to his knees beside him. His hand trembled as it reached out to touch the blood-washed white hair. "Vergil…." he choked, tears filling his eyes. "I always thought….._you_ were the stronger one…."

He dropped his head, and he cried. His grief bent him forward so his head touched Vergil's, and his brother's blood smeared across his forehead and into his own hair. He mourned his twin brother for many long minutes.

_You weren't supposed to die, Vergil! We were supposed to be together forever! Mother said so!_

Mother….

He got up, tears, snot, and blood mingling on his face, and dragged a blanket off the back of the couch. Vergil deserved some honor in his death, and shrouding his body was the only decent thing Dante could think of with his mind mired in shock and grief. He covered him with the brightly-embroidered afghan, then rose and went through the dining room, into the kitchen, and up the back stairs.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

He found her in the hallway, his tall, beautiful mother laying facedown on the carpet with a horrible, gaping wound in her back. "Mom…." Dante felt tears streaming down his face again, but this time he did not cry.

Falling to his knees beside her, he threw back his head and screamed his sorrow into the still night air, a wordless protest against the murders of the people he had loved more than anything else in this world.

Hopeless despair transformed into darkest rage, and he got up from her side and paced down the hall to his father's study. The door slammed open, and light from the hallway spilled across the floor to fall upon a sword. A sword with metallic bones for a hilt.

Rebellion's eye sockets seemed to flare with crimson light as Dante approached its case.

He picked up a heavy metal paperweight from his father's desk, and heaved it at the locked sword-case as hard as he could, putting his rage, his loss, his fear behind the throw.

The glass shattered.

He crossed the floor and grabbed his father's sword, heedless of the glass slicing into his bare feet. The blade was heavy, but Dante was very strong for his age, and he lifted it out of the case with minor difficulty. Rebellion flashed and glowed briefly when he touched it, but in his emotional state Dante didn't notice. He never saw the sword accept him as its wielder.

He dragged the sword out to his mother's body, stabbed it into the floor and knelt before it, somehow knowing that he had to take this position for what he had in mind.

Dante slid a hand down one side of the blade, growling through the sharp pain, and let his blood drip onto the floor beside his beloved mother. An oath of blood.

"I swear, I will hunt down your killers," he ground out. "The demons will pay, all of them, until I have destroyed the one that took you both from me. I will kill them all, to avenge your deaths."

Then he got up and fled the house, not even bothering to put on some shoes. The trail was still fresh. He had to get at least one this night, to sate him until he could grow stronger.

Strong enough to kill them all.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Nalasmil relaxed with a glass of red wine on her bed, watching the candlelight dance through the crimson liquid. She had not been able to retrieve the blood this night, but she would get it tomorrow. The blood-power would not wane for several days, and the spells laid on that street would ensure that none of the neighbors would know that which had transpired for many weeks. She could retrieve the blood at her leisure.

Mundus and his demons had departed back to Hell, but Raksh was still with her. He was always with her.

She sipped her wine and picked back up her book and flipped to the next page.

Her window blew apart, spraying her skin with slivers of glass and wood.

She shook herself free of the glass, and turned furious eyes to the window. Who would be foolish enough to dare disturb her?

A silver-haired boy stood in the hole, a massive longsword held ready in his hands.

Nalasmil's eyes widened, and she scrambled off the bed. He was only a boy, and she was far more powerful than he, but there was a fierce, implacable rage playing in his eyes that made both her and Raksh draw back.

Rage could be transformed into powerful energies.

Energies she couldn't hope to shield against.

Pain slammed through her as a wave of force flew out from the boy's sword. She lay against the wall, knowing that she was hurt more internally than externally, and spat out a stream of nonsensical syllables.

She disappeared from view just before Rebellion slammed into the spot her head had been moment before.

Downstairs, she limped over to her medicine cabinet, hoping to find some green orbs. _Raksh_, she said to her inner demon, _Heal me! Then lend me your strength, that I might destroy this impudent whelp!_

There was no reply.

Instead, a black, wispy smoke flowed from her facial orifices, out of her nose, eyes, and ears. When she opened her mouth to protest, it came out of that too. A vaguely demonic shape was taken as he crouched before her, and she felt so weak, so empty, without him.

_No, Nalasmil. Not if he is to destroy my master for me. Only the son of Sparda can dispose of my sire for me, where I cannot. _

Nalasmil raced for him, but the oily smoke dissipated, leaving her grasping only air. Aware of how vulnerable she was, she immediately began rifling through her medicine cabinet, searching for green stars and orbs.

There were none.

Only mundane bottles of human medicine filled the cabinet.

She wanted to scream in frustration. Not fear, never fear. Raksh had left her, taking most of her accumulated power with him. She was as weak as she had been when first she had opened that book of forbidden knowledge.

Far too weak to even shield herself while she desperately searched for demonic healing items that should have been there.

She felt another blast of energy slam into her, tearing her off the floor and slamming her against the wall. She crumbled like a broken doll, and stared dully ahead as the half-devil son of her master's master's greatest enemy stalked towards her.

He never said a word, not once did he mock her or savor his victory. Rather, she was stunned to see tears streaming from his pale blue eyes.

Why was he crying?

Was it for her?

Or for himself?

Then the sword was sliding into her chest, seeking out her heart and dividing it in two. Nalasmil felt no pain, no fear. She continued to stare at those eyes, long after her breathing ceased and her blood ran still.

Even dead, she couldn't take her eyes off those tear-filled orbs of cerulean fire.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Back in the house of death and despair, Dante sat in Vergil's bead and cried. Deep sobs of grief wracked his small frame, and his eyes burned with the salt of his tears. He couldn't stop seeing the woman's pale dead eyes, boring deep into his own. They haunted him, no matter how hard he tried to forget.

His first kill.

And so he wept.

For his mother.

For his brother.

For his own lost innocence.

At long last, he lifted his head and wiped the tears away. He couldn't stay here. He'd go mad if he tried.

But where could he go?

Douglas, perhaps, or Donatello. Surely one of them would take him in. Wouldn't they?

He had to try.

Dante went downstairs to get a suitcase, refusing to look at the covered, broken bodies that occupied the house now. Those were not his mother and twin. Just their mortal shells.

By rights, almost all of the objects in this house were his. The swords, the books, his mother's heirlooms….

But he didn't take very much. He packed up his clothes, his comic books, some treasured knickknacks, and some books of his father's. He grabbed Charlie, the battered old lion doll, from Vergil's bed and held it to his heart. Despite being cleaned, it still smelled like his brother. That also went into the suitcase, along with the family photograph album.

With everything he needed packed up, he grabbed a coat and shoes and slung his amulet around his neck. Vergil's he left with his brother's body. Rebellion was strapped on his back, and although he staggered beneath the weight, he managed to get the suitcase downstairs. He would have to return to his childhood home for everything else, but not until his family was given a proper burial.

As he opened the door he paused, and looked at the body of his twin. He had his sword, but Vergil didn't. It just didn't seem right to Dante. His brother ought to have his sword, too.

A quick trip back upstairs and he was by Vergil's body once more, Yamato in his hands. He held it by the sheath, never touching the ornate hilt, and laid it respectfully by his brother's side.

Then he left the house, not once looking back.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _Part of his vengeance is done, but it will not be completed until the events of Devil May Cry 1, which in the timeline I work with means that he and Vergil will take the SOB down together years beforehand. By the time "My Angel" is taking place, Mundus is already dead and done with. No Trish or Nelo Angelo needed. But where does Raksh fit in, you ask? Well, I said above that he is the son of Mundus. Who do you think will be getting the throne once Daddy's vacated it? Raksh was sealed away in that book Nalasmil read for a reason; his father, the Mighty Prince of Darkness, King of the Underworld, was afraid of his own son's power. Yes, Dante does still have Charlie. Vergil has no idea he has it. And on that note, I must go. Dante and Vergil are due back soon, and I don't want them to see this posting. I don't want to dredge up those memories in their heads; they deserve better than that from me. _

(transmission ended)


	13. Connection Broken

**Summary: **His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

Connection Broken

A storm raged outside, breaking branches from hapless trees with its relentless fury. Thunder cracked whip-like across the black crowds, and flashes of blue-white lightening illuminated the city as if it were day.

A particularly bright flash lit up the sky, filling an empty house with purest light. The lightening shone a staccato spotlight on a body covered by an afghan, lying still before the dark screen of the television.

By the light of the heavens, the afghan moved.

A hand, coated in dried blood slowly flaking from pale skin, trembled as it slid across the rug. When it touched the ornate hilt of the katana lying beside him, the hand wrapped tightly around it, clutching the Japanese blade as if it were a lifeline.

Demonic power of purest azure exploded from beneath the afghan.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Across town, sitting in the upper window of Tommy's house, Dante felt a slow fire erupt within him.

He felt….

"Vergil?" he whispered.

Then the feeling was gone, and he relaxed, watching the storm with sorrowful azure eyes.

His brother was dead.

The connection they had shared….

Was broken.

He couldn't feel him anymore.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: _I figured this might explain how, in the manga, Dante sorta senses Vergil for a second in the first issue but the rest of the time he doesn't. Like most twins, they had a connection as children, but when Vergil's devil awakened they lost it. It's back now, but there's still a lot of tension between them. Hope you enjoyed the fic, thanks for reading, and please leave a review. I worked hard enough on this one I'd like to hear some damned feedback on it!_


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